Torrent
by Cyri's Alter Ego
Summary: Rather loosely based on Warriors. Chicory, Lilac, and Pine are siblings. When an unlikely turn of events forces them to band together with some cats that they would rather not, is there a chance of survival? And what about the sickly tortoiseshell tom?
1. Allegiances

**Hey, guys! Welcome to my latest work; Torrent! Well, as you'll know if you read the summary, this is very _loosely_ based on Warriors. The actual _Clans_ won't be mentioned... Erm, at all.  
CYRI: And beware, if you want to read these allegiances - they're _long_. And _complicated_.  
Yes, Cyri will be helping my authors' notes, 'cause I miss her. And she misses being written about. (see my fanfic _Lost_ if you don't get it)  
CYRI: Too right! I wanna be the main character again, but... y'know, author's rules.  
And, yeah, the cats are all named after trees or flowers that can be found in Britain, before I get any 'ZOMG U CANT NAME A CAT CANDYTUFT!' reviews.**

**DISCLAIMER: No, I'm _not_ Erin Hunter. Oddly enough.**

Allegiances

SENIOR-WARRIOR-AGE CATS:  
_Tansy_ - black she-cat with a white tail-tip and green eyes. Daughter of Cowslip and Blackberry and sister of Acorn.

_Acorn_ - pale brown tom with light amber eyes. Son of Cowslip and Blackberry, brother of Tansy, and mate of Harebell.

_Harebell_ - grey-blue she-cat with extremely pale blue eyes. Expecting Acorn's kits.

_Iris_ - tawny-yellow she-cat. Daughter of Hawthorn and Buttercup, sister of Scabious and Wallflower, mate of Sycamore, mother of Tulip and Ivy, and aunt of Rose.

_Sycamore_ - short-furred brown tabby with yellow eyes. Mate of Iris and father of Tulip and Ivy.

_Scabious_ - white she-cat with a black ring halfway down her tail. Daughter Hawthorn and Buttercup, sister of Iris and Wallflower, mate of Poplar, mother of Rose, and aunt of Tulip and Ivy.

_Poplar_ - brown tom with a long tail. Mate of Scabious and father of Rose.

_Wallflower_ - brown tom with amber eyes. Son of Hawthorn and Buttercup and uncle of Rose, Tulip, and Ivy.

_Fuschia_ - dark grey and white tabby she-cat with yellow eyes. Daughter of Nasturtium and Jasmine, mate of Gorse, and mother of Celandine, Snowdrop, Elm, and Primrose.

_Gorse_ - golden brown tom with yellow eyes. Mate of Fuschia and father of Celandine, Snowdrop, Elm, and Primrose.

_Crocus_ - tawny tom with yellow eyes. Mate of Poppy and father of Lavender and Cornflower.

_Poppy_ - black she-cat with yellow eyes. Daughter of Bluebell and Gaillardia, sister of Scilla, Stitchwort, and Windflower, mother of Lavender and Cornflower, and aunt of Lilac, Pine, and Chicory.

_Scilla_ - dark red tom striped with paler tabby markings and green eyes. Son of Bluebell and Gaillardia, brother of Poppy, Stitchwort, and Windflower, mate of Daffodil, and uncle of Lavender, Cornflower, Lilac, Pine, and Chicory.

_Daffodil_ - dark tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes. Mate of Scilla.

_Stitchwort_ - pale brown and cream she-cat with green eyes. Daughter of Bluebell and Gaillardia, sister of Scilla, Poppy, and Windflower, and aunt of Lavender, Cornflower, Lilac, Pine, and Chicory.

_Windflower _- brown tom with yellow eyes. Son of Bluebell and Gaillardia, brother of Scilla, Stitchwort, and Poppy, mate of Holly, father of Lilac, Pine, and Chicory, and uncle of Lavender and Cornflower.

_Holly_ - pale tortoiseshell she-cat with white paws and a white-tipped tail. Mate of Windflower and mother of Lilac, Pine, and Chicory.

YOUNG-WARRIOR-AGE CATS:  
_Willow_ - silvery brown she-cat with green eyes. Mate of Lime and mother of Elder.

_Lime _- pale brown tom with green eyes. Son of Dandelion and Laburnum, brother of Mulberry, and father of Elder.

_Mulberry_ - very dark brown tom with stormy blue eyes. Son of Dandelion and Laburnum, uncle of Elder, and mate of Narcissus.

_Narcissus_ - tawny she-cat with slightly darker paws and black ear-tips. Mate of Mulberry.

_Beech_ - dark brown tom with paler tabby stripes and yellow eyes. Mate of Heather.

_Heather_ - dark silvery-grey she-cat with yellow eyes. Daughter of Zinnia and Nightshade, sister of Pansy and Foxglove, and mate of Beech.

_Pansy_ - grey tabby she-cat with amber eyes. Daughter of Zinnia and Nightshade, and sister of Heather and Foxglove.

_Foxglove_ - grey tabby tom with dark stripes and yellow eyes. Son of Zinnia and Nightshade, brother of Pansy and Heather.

_Marigold_ - grey she-cat with black tabby stripes and amber eyes. Daughter of Alder and Geranium, sister of Birch, Blackthorn, and Strawberry, aunt of Nettle and Candytuft, mate of unknown and mother of Snapdragon.

_Birch_ - silvery-brown tom with sleek fur and amber eyes. Son of Alder and Geranium, brother of Blackthorn, Marigold, and Strawberry, and uncle of Snapdragon, Nettle, and Candytuft.

_Blackthorn_ - black she-cat with white socks, a white-tipped tail, and blue eyes. Daughter of Alder and Geranium, sister of Birch, Marigold, and Strawberry, and aunt of Snapdragon, Nettle, and Candytuft.

_Heliotrope_ - black tom with white paws and blue eyes. Mate of Strawberry and father of Nettle and Candytuft.

_Strawberry_ - grey she-cat flecked with black, and amber eyes. Daughter of Alder and Geranium, sister of Birch, Blackthorn, and Marigold, aunt of Snapdragon, mate of Heliotrope, and mother of Nettle and Candytuft.

APPRENTICE-AGE CATS:  
_Tulip_ - dark tawny she-cat with green eyes. Daughter of Iris and Sycamore, granddaughter of Hawthorn and Buttercup, brother of Ivy, niece of Wallflower and Scabious, and cousin of Rose.

_Ivy_ - tortoiseshell tom with amber eyes. Son of Iris and Sycamore, grandson of Hawthorn and Buttercup, sister of Tulip, nephew of Wallflower and Scabious, and cousin of Rose.

_Rose_ - cream-coloured she-cat with inky blue eyes. Daughter of Poplar and Scabious, granddaughter of Hawthorn and Buttercup, niece of Wallflower and Iris, and cousin of Tulip and Ivy.

_Celandine_ - white she-cat with piercing blue eyes. Daughter of Fuschia and Gorse, granddaughter of Nasturtium and Jasmine, and sister of Snowdrop, Elm, and Primrose.

_Snowdrop_ - white she-cat with yellow eyes. Daughter of Fuschia and Gorse, granddaughter of Nasturtium and Jasmine, and sister of Celandine, Elm, and Primrose.

_Elm_ - grey and white tom with green eyes. Son of Fuschia and Gorse, grandson of Nasturtium and Jasmine, and brother of Snowdrop, Celandine, and Primrose.

_Primrose_ - pale cream she-cat with dark blue eyes. Daughter of Fuschia and Gorse, granddaughter of Nasturtium and Jasmine, and sister of Snowdrop, Elm, and Celandine.

_Lavender_ - blue-grey she-cat with blue eyes. Daughter of Crocus and Poppy, granddaughter of Bluebell and Gaillardia, sister of Cornflower, niece of Scilla, Stitchwort, and Windflower, and cousin of Lilac, Pine, and Chicory.

_Cornflower_ - blue-grey she-cat with light blue eyes. Daughter of Crocus and Poppy, granddaughter of Bluebell and Gaillardia, sister of Lavender, niece of Scilla, Stitchwort, and Windflower, and cousin of Lilac, Pine, and Chicory.

_Lilac_ - tortoiseshell and white she-cat with yellow eyes. Daughter of Windflower and Holly, granddaughter of Bluebell and Gaillardia, sister of Pine and Chicory, niece of Poppy, Scilla, and Stitchwort, and cousin of Lavender and Cornflower.

_Pine_ - dark brown tom with green eyes. Son of Windflower and Holly, grandson of Bluebell and Gaillardia, brother of Lilac and Chicory, nephew of Poppy, Scilla, and Stitchwort, and cousin of Lavender and Cornflower.

_Chicory_ - white she-cat with barely visible pale grey stripes and black ear tips. Palest blue eyes. Daughter of Windflower and Holly, granddaughter of Bluebell and Gaillardia, sister of Lilac and Pine, niece of Poppy, Scilla, and Stitchwort, and cousin of Lavender and Cornflower.

ELDER-AGE CATS:  
_Cowslip_ - pale brown she-cat with darker tabby stripes and green eyes. Mother of Tansy and Acorn and mate of Blackberry.

_Blackberry_ - long-furred black tom with soft dark green eyes. Father of Tansy and Acorn and mate of Cowslip.

_Hawthorn_ - reddish-brown tabby tom with amber eyes. Father of Scabious, Wallflower, and Iris, grandfather of Rose, Tulip, and Ivy, and mate of Buttercup.

_Buttercup_ - grey tabby she-cat with pale yellow eyes. Mother of Scabious, Wallflower, and Iris, grandmother of Rose, Tulip, and Ivy, and mate of Hawthorn.

_Nasturtium_ - dark ginger tom with pale green eyes. Father of Fuschia, grandfather of Celandine, Snowdrop, Elm, and Primrose, and mate of Jasmine.

_Jasmine_ - tawny-coloured she-cat with amber eyes. Mother and Fuschia, grandmother of Celandine, Snowdrop, Elm, and Primrose, and mate of Nasturtium.

_Bluebell_ - brown and white she-cat with pale blue eyes. Mother of Poppy, Scilla, Stitchwort, and Windflower, grandmother of Lavender, Cornflower, Lilac, Pine, and Chicory, and mate of Gaillardia.

_Gaillardia_ - dark red tabby with green eyes. Father of Poppy, Scilla, Stitchwort, and Windflower, grandfather of Lavender, Cornflower, Lilac, Pine, and Chicory, and mate of Bluebell.

_Dandelion_ - black-spotted brown tom with a white chest and yellow eyes. Father of Lime and Mulberry, grandfather of Elder, and mate of Laburnum.

_Laburnum_ - tawny tabby she-cat with blue eyes. Mother of Lime and Mulberry, grandmother of Elder, and mate of Dandelion.

_Zinnia_ - grey tabby she-cat with yellow eyes. Mother of Pansy, Heather, and Foxglove and mate of Nightshade.

_Nightshade_ - dark brown, almost black tom with a white mark on his chest and amber eyes. Father of Pansy, Heather, and Foxglove and mate of Zinnia.

_Alder_ - grey tom with black ears and a dark hind paw. Green eyes. Father of Birch, Blackthorn, Marigold, and Strawberry, grandfather of Snapdragon, Nettle, and Candytuft, and mate of Geranium.

_Geranium_ - black she-cat with broad shoulders and yellow eyes. Mother of Birch, Blackthorn, Marigold, and Strawberry, grandmother of Snapdragon, Nettle, and Candytuft, and mate of Alder.

KITS:  
_Elder_ - silvery-brown she-cat with green eyes. Daughter of Willow and Lime, granddaughter of Dandelion and Laburnum, and niece of Mulberry.

_Snapdragon_ - ginger tabby tom with green eyes. Son of Marigold and unknown, grandson of Alder and Geranium, nephew of Birch, Blackthorn, and Strawberry, and cousin of Nettle and Candytuft.

_Nettle_ - black tom with white flecks and green eyes. Son of Strawberry and Heliotrope, grandson of Alder and Geranium, brother of Candytuft, nephew of Birch, Blackthorn, and Marigold, and cousin of Snapdragon.

_Candytuft _- skinny black she-cat with a white chest and pale blue eyes. Daughter of Strawberry and Heliotrope, granddaughter of Alder and Geranium, sister of Nettle, nephew of Birch, Blackthorn, and Marigold, and cousin of Snapdragon.

**Apologies for the dragged-on-ness of the allegiances... All the relations made it long, and I'd actually be surprised if you read all that! Ah well. Watch for the prologue later!**


	2. Prologue

**I got the prologue up quickly 'cause of the dizzying allegiances... So, well, here it is.**

**DISCLAIMER: Young readers, you have much to learn if you believe Warriors belongs to me. =wise nod=**

Prologue

"Oh... in the name of all things blessed!"

The quiet whisper sliced through the night air as the she-cat's eyes flashed fearfully. The short furred, brown tabby tom beside her stiffened.

"Please, Sycamore, don't do it!" the tawny she-cat begged in a whisper which was high-pitched with terror. "Not tonight."

For several heartbeats, Sycamore neither moved nor said anything.

"Sycamore, our son!"

"Iris!" growled Sycamore, whipping around to face his mate. "There is nothing more I can do for Ivy, however ill he might be."

"But-"

"Comfort Tulip," Sycamore mewed, cutting across her. He did not meet her eyes. "She must _not_ be allowed to go near Ivy. I'm not sure whether he's contagious or not." His eyes darkened. "But I'm not putting our other kit at risk."

"You're putting _yourself_ at risk!" whispered Iris, her eyes wide and fearful. "Please!"

"I can't let them trespass! I have to let them know that this is _our_ territory!" Iris was scared by the passion in her mate's mew.

"Alone?"

Shaking his broad, dark-furred head impatiently, Sycamore opened his jaws to breathe in the forest odours. "Can't you scent it? He hasn't brought his mate this time. Or his kits, more's the pity."

Iris's eyes stretched so wide that the whites were nearly visible. "What do mean?"

"Maybe I'd like to make him feel worried for _his_ kits' lives once in a while," Sycamore hissed, unsheathing his claws into the soft earth. He briefly met Iris's eyes and sheathed them again. Perhaps he realised how much fear his words had invoked on the tawny she-cat. "I've _got_ to go."

Gently, Iris touched his nose with her own, anguish in her eyes. "If you must," she murmured. "But please, Sycamore... Careful."

But Sycamore was already gone, the gloom surrounding the trees swallowing his dark pelt.

Iris turned back to her den, her tail trailing and her head low. If she had had less on her mind, she would have noticed that Tulip and Ivy's den, which was only a couple of rabbit hops from hers, under a canopy of low-hanging branches, was empty.

The entire den reeked of illness. Iris pushed her way past a shadowed branch into what had once been a quiet sanctuary, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the stench. As she turned towards her son's makeshift nest she heard a feeble cough, followed by a hushed mew.

"Here, Ivy... drink this..."

Iris stopped dead, nostrils flaring in alarm. "Tulip!" she hissed, eyes flashing. "You're not supposed to be in here!"

The dark tawny she-cat jumped, dropping the soaked scrap of moss she had been carrying in her jaws. "S-sorry, mother," she stammered. "I just wanted to see Ivy." Her voice cracked on the last word, and she lowered her eyes.

Iris trembled with anger, though she knew that she was simply afraid for her daughter. "Ivy is very sick," she whispered, trying to keep the fury from her mew. "Which is why he was moved into my den. I... I doubt he even realises that you're here. We don't want you falling ill, too."

Glancing up hesitantly, Tulip tried to tactfully change the subject. "Where's Sycamore?"

Iris forced herself not to shy away from the question, but she knew that Tulip had not missed her flinch. "He has gone to settle some matters with some of the cats that live on the other side of the copse."

"You mean he's gone to fight." Tulip's mew wobbled, but her eyes were evenly trained on Iris.

Her mother bowed her head. "Yes," she murmured, not able to meet her daughter's steadfast gaze. "He has gone to fight."

Tulip said nothing more. She padded quietly out of the den, her shoulders slumped with defeat. Iris stretched out her neck and gave her daughter a quick lick on the head, unable to bear her unhappiness, but Tulip didn't respond.

Ivy writhed uncomfortably in his nest. Iris padded closer to her ailing son and tried to straighten the moss around him with her nose. _Anything to make him a little more comfortable..._

He shuddered with cold and curled up into a tense ball, eyes squeezed tightly closed and muscles taut. Distressed at seeing Ivy in such pain, Iris touched her nose to his flank and realised that he was, yet again, red-hot with fever. He had always been a sickly kit, but this...

"Mother!"

"Tulip, I thought I told you to keep away?" spat Iris, her temper rising to the surface as her daughter skidded back into the den.

"I'm sorry!" Tulip crouched low as she saw her mother's expression. "But... I've just thought... Ivy..." She fixed Iris with an anxious eye. "Will he... die?"

Iris turned away and stared at Ivy so fiercely she felt that she could have scorched his fur. She wasn't ready to answer that question.

What if Ivy _didn't_ get better?


	3. One

**CYRI: I love you, World of Make Believe, Fioralba, and starpaw! You reviewed the story! I wonder if Jaypaw would ever review... =daydreams=  
=rolls eyes at Cyri= This is the first actual chapter. Meet the protaganists. =grin=**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Warriors. Not _yet_, anyway.**

One

"Race you to the loch!"

Chicory sheathed her claws and leapt away from her sister's frantically flailing limbs as her brother's loud mew rang out.

The dark brown tom's eyes were bright with exhilaration, and he kneaded his paws on the ground as though he were about to dart off towards the shining expanse of water that very moment, but his sisters exchanged an uneasy glance.

"I'm not sure, Pine..." Lilac hedged, flicking her tail. "I mean, are we allowed?"

"Sure we're not." The light dimmed from Pine's eyes. He sat down with an ungainly _thud_ and drew his tongue over a forepaw. "But only if you're not too _scared_."

"I'm not scared," mumbled Chicory, pale blue eyes fixed on the leaf-mould at her paws.

"Yeah! We're not scared!" piped up Lilac, springing to her paws at once. A heartbeat later, her tune changed. "But Mama didn't _say_ we were allowed..."

"Mama didn't say we weren't, either," Pine challenged, green eyes flashing.

Chicory threw a glance behind her. The trees there were thick and leafy, dark despite the rare midday sun that warmed her pelt. The water _did_ look _so_ much more inviting...

"But what if we run into any other cats?" The thought had suddenly struck Chicory so alarmingly that she had voiced it without even being conscious of the fact.

Her brother twitched his whiskers. "Who's there to run into?" he mewed airily. "Only those foxhearts from up the other end of the copse and their mousebrained kits, and _they _live right over there." He flicked his tail in the opposite direction from the loch.

Lilac blinked yellow eyes anxiously. "Don't call them foxhearts," she reprimanded him. "You should have respect for your enemies."

"Yeah, right. I didn't hear our father having much respect for them the other night! You heard him call them a band of stinking cowards."

"You forgot 'crowfood-eating'," supplied Chicory quietly.

"Exactly!" Pine turned to the pale grey-striped she-cat for support. "Ex_act_ly!" He blinked at his other sister, who glared at him. "Now, are you going to _lighten up_," he nudged the tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat, affection softening his mew, "or are me and Chicory going to have to race by ourselves?"

Personally, Chicory couldn't remember ever agreeing to race down to the loch with her brother, but decided that it wasn't worth pointing this out. Besides, what Pine said made sense... their parents had never specifically _told_ them that the loch was forbidden...

"Alright," caved Lilac, sighing dramatically. "_Okay_... I'll come with you, you stupid furballs. But if we get caught, I had nothing to do with it, right?"

"Yeah, yeah." Chicory got the impression that Pine wasn't listening any more. As soon as he had got his way, he had leaped to his paws, tail curling in delight. "On-your-marks-get-set-go!" The words tumbled out of his jaws so fast that they blurred together, and then Pine was gone in a flash of sunlight on water.

"Cheater!" Lilac accused, but Chicory could hear a hint of amusement colouring her mew this time. As she sped away after him, Lilac darted one look bad and yowled, "Come on, Chicory, you're going to lose!"

"Oh!" The white she-cat flicked a black-tipped ear, coming to her senses, and raced after her two siblings, her paws drumming the hard earth and the wind roaring in her delicate ear fur.

The scenery whipped past her - mostly barren, sloping hills with heather and rushes growing haphazardly, scattered here and there all over the place. The little copse where Chicory, Lilac, Pine, and their parents lived was the only wooded area around that Chicory could see, but despite the shelter and prey that the trees provided, the grey-striped she-cat somehow yearned for something different.

As she sidestepped a tuft of heather and made swift progress downwards into the valley of the loch, Chicory remembered that her family and the rival family that Pine had described were not the only cats living near the loch. When Chicory was a mere five moons old - two moons ago - she had ventured out of the copse for the first time, and fallen whiskers-first into the claws of a rough-tongued young she-cat named Heather.

When Chicory looked back on the incident, she supposed that it wasn't surprising that the dark silver she-cat had nearly clawed her. After all, she had almost shredded Heather's den to scraps of moss, pretending that it was an enemy. And Heather had been forgiving - ish - when Chicory had mewed, stuttering horribly, that she didn't mean it and that she was just playing.

She had been lucky to escape with all fur intact, but at the time, Chicory had whimpered all the way home about the cuff on the ear she had recieved. Chicory's mother, Holly, had taken the matter up with Heather personally, and Chicory heard from her father that there had been a scrap.

"Mousebrained kit!"

A yowl to Chicory's left brought her to her senses. Distracted, her paws slipped under her and she tumbled down into the valley for a few foxlengths, before-

"Whoa!"

"_Chicory_!"

There was a loud _splash_, and a drenched Chicory was sprawled in the shallowest part of the loch. Almost simulteaneously, Pine and Lilac, who had reached the water's edge without incident, dashed into the loch to rescue their sister.

Chicory felt teeth meet in her scruff. Raising her head out of the water and spitting out a few mouthfuls of it, the pale grey-striped she-cat recognised a scent that was vaguely familiar.

"B-Beech?" she coughed, trying not to make a fuss about being dragged by her scruff like a helpless kit. "What are you doing here? Where's Heather?"

The dark brown tom dropped Chicory roughly on the shoreline and shook his pelt. Chicory didn't flinch as the drops spun away from his fur - she was already wet. "Heather and I live near here," he growled. "Like you don't know," he added.

The young she-cat felt her ears grow hot with embarrassment. She scuffed the ground with drenched paws. "I was just a kit," she murmured defensively.

Beech snorted. "You're barely past kithood now."

Chicory opened her jaws to respond, but her mew was drowned by a great splashing as Pine and Lilac hauled themselves out of the loch, belly fur wet and expressions disgruntled.

"We were about to save you!" Pine protested, shaking each paw in turn to get rid of the water. "Until _this_ cat came along and ruined everything!"

"I'm not sure why I bothered," muttered Beech. "You destroyed my den before, and now your littermates are treating me like crowfood."

Ducking her head in submission at the older tom, Chicory mewed, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Lilac's yellow eyes were round as she gazed at Beech, apparantly oblivious to the water steadily pooling at her paws. "Who _are_ you?" she breathed.

"This is Beech," Chicory introduced him quickly, before Beech himself could mew a word. "He's Heather's mate." She twitched her whiskers in amusement, not missing Lilac's tail droop in disappointment.

Meanwhile, Pine had completely missed the exchange. "Heather?" he meowed curiously. "Wasn't she that cat that Holly-"

Quickly, and before Pine could insult Beech or his mate, Chicory mewed, "Yes, yes, that was the cat."

Beech bent his head to lick his drying fur, ignoring the conversation that was going on around him. "Clean your pelts," he advised, changing the subject completely, "or your mother will get suspicious as to why you're all so wet."

Chicory's pelt prickled. Had he guessed that the three of them were technically out of bounds?

"I must go," Beech went on. "Heather will wonder what has become of me. I was supposed to be collecting moss for her nest - the kits are due any day now." Chicory detected a slight note of pride in the prickly tom's mew.

"Oh, she's expecting kits?" Lilac's mew was squeaky with disbelief.

Fixing his eyes on Lilac, who lowered her own in embarrassment, Beech mewed drily, "No, she's expecting badger cubs." With a flick of his tail as farewell, he wriggled underneath a nearby gorse bush, and was gone.

"Wow." Lilac's mew was soft. "I hope we see him again!"

Chicory tutted impatiently. "You'd better not start going all moony over him."

Widening her eyes in outrage, Lilac spluttered, "Me? Never! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"We'd better get back," Pine mewed, surprisingly calm about this new revelation and unruffled by Lilac's obvious humiliation. "Beech was right - Holly and Windflower will be wondering where we are."

Murmuring her assent, Chicory turned her gaze back to the hills, which were turning pink as the sun set behind them.

"Oh, and Chicory?" Chicory whipped her had around to her brother as he called her, but there was a sparkle of humour in his green eyes. "You lost."


	4. Two

**CYRI: Thanks, Fioralba and World of Make Believe! I think that you can guess why...  
**

**DISCLAIMER: No way, no how, no what, no where, no why, no who. So, I don't own Warriors.**

Two

The walk back to the copse was uneventful, save for their mother's anxious fretting and some stern words from their father.

As Lilac, Chicory and Pine approached their eighth moon, they reached an unspoken agreement not to discuss their meeting with Beech. Lilac had even grudgingly agreed to 'keep the mooning to a minimum', as Pine had put it. Considering Holly and Heather's past relationships, it didn't seem wise to stir up unnecessary tension between them by making Holly feel she owed any debt, especially with the cats who they shared the copse with being so hostile.

When Windflower returned from a fight with one of the cats late one night, limping and lapping feebly at a bleeding shoulder wound, Chicory began to feel slightly worried.

She shifted in her nest so that neither of her ears were pressed against the moss, and pricked them, painfully aware that she wasn't supposed to be awake. But her father was hurt - what could she do but listen?

"Pine?" she hissed, mew low. "Lilac?"

There was no response. They were asleep, Chicory thought resentfully, she should have been able to tell that from her littermates' slow, heavy breathing.

"You can't keep _fighting _them, Windflower!" Chicory's attention turned back to her parents - Holly's mew was anxious, but was edged by impatience, as though they had had this conversation many times before.

Windflower's answer was abrupt, changing the subject. "He brought a kit."

Heart beating fast, Chicory silently willed her siblings to breathe a little more quietly as Holly lowered her mew.

"They have _kits_?" She sounded incredulous, as though she believed that such cats would naturally be cursed with the inability to bear offspring. "How old?"

"Around eight, nine moons," replied the brown tom. "There was only one - a little tortoiseshell - but for all I know there could be more."

"What kind of a parent would take their kit into a battle?" Holly demanded. Chicory imagined her mother's yellow eyes narrowing.

There was a humourless snort from Windflower. "Oh, I don't know that he _invited_ his kit along. Quite honestly, I felt almost sorry for the cat when this little furball charged out of the bushes. More of a hindrance to him than a help," he added.

Pine snuffled and turned over in his sleep as Holly and Windflower lapsed into silence.

"But you're hurt." Chicory was surprised by the tenderness in the tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat's sudden mew - Holly was not renowned for being a soft-spoken cat. "I think-"

But what Holly thought, they never knew. Chicory sensed her sudden alarm as she broke off, and swivelled her own black-tipped ears forward and back, trying to pinpoint the cause.

A great rushing sound from the direction of the loch reached her ears, just as a crashing wave of fear-scent from Holly and Windflower hit her.

"The loch... What's happening to the loch?" Holly's mew was squeaky - terrified.

Windflower let out a thunderous growl. "Look - down there! Twolegs!"

"What are they doing?"

"Never _mind_ that!" snarled Windflower. "The water will flood this copse soon, the way it's going - get the kits out, quick!"

Chicory scrambled to her paws, forgetting about feigning sleep. "I'm awake," she announced breathlessly. "What do you want me to do?"

"_Run_!" ordered Windflower, shaking a disorientated Lilac awake before starting on Pine. "Run, with your mother!"

"Come on," urged Holly, paws kneading the ground.

Scared by the fear-scent pulsing off of both her parents, Chicory hared off into the heart of the copse with her mother beside her, vaguely aware of the wind - or was it the overflowing loch? - rushing in her ears, and Lilac's paws pounding on the leaf-strewn ground behind them.

"I can walk!" Pine's frustrated mew sounded from somewhere behind them, but Chicory didn't turn to check on her brother.

An unfamiliar cat was yowling. "Get to higher ground!"

A thrill of fear coursed down Chicory's spine as she realised that she was heading straight toward the enemy cats' den on the other side of the copse, but her terror was unfounded - a faint scent of illness bathed her muzzle for a heartbeat before she saw that their den had already been abandoned.

The trees thinned until the three fleeing she-cats had left behind the copse altogether. All around, Chicory could see cats - more cats than she had ever thought the world could hold - dashing up the sparse hillside.

"Mother!" Chicory heard the terrified squeak of a kit and her paws slowed.

"Chicory!" screamed Holly, but the pale grey-striped she-cat wasn't listening. She darted through the crowd, quick as a fish, and deftly scooped up the tiny scrap before racing on to try and rejoin her mother and sister.

The kit had frozen with fear. "Who are you?" His voice shook with fright. "_You're _not my mother!"

"No, but I am saving your life," Chicory meowed grimly through a mouthful of kit-fur.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a pale brown tomcat gently nudging his mate, a grey-blue she-cat, up the steep hill. Her belly was round with kits, and she was predictably finding the journey particularly hard going.

Chicory's pads tingled with unease as she remembered what Beech had said - that Heather had been expecting kits. The young she-cat wondered if Heather would be able to make it out on such slowed paws, or whether the kits had already been born and would be lost like the one dangling from Chicory's own jaws.

With these dark thoughts clouding her head, the striped she-cat pounded on, only managing to catch up with Holly and Lilac when she found that the majority of cats had stopped running.

"_Chicory_!"

Chicory almost dropped the kit she was holding as a tortoiseshell-and-white shape flung herself at her and started frantically licking.

"Holly, I'm fine!" insisted Chicory as audibly as she could, ducking out of the way and trying not to harm the kit.

Lilac peered out interestedly from behind her mother. "How come you've got a kit?"

"Um..." mumbled Chicory. Choosing to ignore the question, she dropped the kit at her paws and asked, "What's your name?"

The ginger tabby kit remained rigid, seeming too frightened to move. Eventually, he managed to squeak out, "Snapdragon."

"Okay." Chicory forced herself to breathe. "Do you know what your mother's name is? Or... or you father? Or your littermates?"

Snapdragon's green eyes clouded in confusion for a heartbeat. "There's just me and Marigold..." he revealed quietly. "But she's gone..."

"It's okay." Holly surprised every cat present by giving Snapdragon a tender lick on the head. "We can find your mother."

Raising his tiny, ginger-furred head hopefully, Snapdragon's eyes glowed with hope. Chicory felt the first spark of calm she had felt since Holly had seen the loch overflowing.

"I'm Chicory," she introduced herself to the tom kit. "This is my sister, Lilac, my mother, Holly, and..." The end of her sentence trailed off.

She exchanged a look of horror with Lilac as panic gripped them like a claw.

Windflower and Pine had not reappeared.


	5. Three

**Thanks to World of Make Believe and Fioralba for being the ONLY ONES TO REVIEW. AGAIN, I may add. Meh. This is fun to write, anyway - it's not going into the Void of Deleted Stuff just 'cause I haven't got a lot of reviews.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Warriors. But how cool would that be?**

Three

"_Pine_!" Unthinking, Chicory dashed off into the crowd in pursuit of her brother, wherever he might have been. "Pine! _Pine_!"

"Be quiet!" some cat growled, but Chicory ignored them.

"_Windflower_!" she wailed in despair, skidding on the tufty ground. A flash of brown fur caught her eye. "Windflower...?" she breathed, whipping around and managing to lash her tail in Snapdragon's kit-round face. The ginger kit recoiled as Chicory stared - she hadn't realised that he had followed her.

"Ouch!" he protested. "That _hurt_."

"What are you doing here?" Chicory demanded, worry for the kit combined with worry for her kin driving her to anger.

Snapdragon shrank under her burning blue gaze. "I thought you were going to find my mother... You said you would." There was nothing accusing in his tone, but something made Chicory feel guilty about her outburst all the same. What was she doing, running off in search of Windflower and Pine? They were probably _fine_ - in the name of stars, _they_ were probably worried about _her_, not to mention Holly and Lilac.

"Sorry," the pale she-cat murmured, looking at her paws. "I promise we'll look for Marigold now."

Eyes bright, Snapdragon chirped up at once. Chicory felt a surge of affection for the young tom.

_And it won't hurt to have a look around for Windflower and Pine while we're at it... _Despite her reassurances to herself, unease fluttered like a trapped bird in her belly.

Craning her neck, Chicory glanced around. Different cats - tawny, dark ginger, black - met her vision every way she turned. None of them were paying attention to the two undersized, searching young cats - nor did any of them hold any resemblance to Windflower or Pine.

"What does Marigold look like, Snapdragon?"

"Well..." Snapdragon narrowed his eyes, evidently thinking of how best to describe his mother. "She's a grey tabby with black stripes. And her eyes are yellow. No, amber. Um..." The ginger tom kit looked confused, and slightly apologetic. "Either yellow or amber."

Chicory forced herself not to sigh. Snapdragon was only young - but still, if he couldn't even remember Marigold's eye colour, they were going to have trouble.

_Her fur colour is something, though, _she told herself firmly. _And Snapdragon should be able to recognise her by her scent as well as her pelt._

As she thought upon this, her gaze wandered. A couple of elders looking strangely unbothered, a clearly half-asleep tom about Chicory's own age... Her line of sight drifting, she stiffened. The tip of a dark brown tail disappearing between two anxious-looking she-cats snatched her attention. Her heart leapt into her mouth, chasing away any thoughts of Snapdragon's mother.

Forgetting the kit she had in tow, Chicory darted away into the mish-mash of cats, knocking the she-cats back sideways.

"Look where you're going!" scolded a silvery-brown she-cat. Chicory squeaked a submissive 'sorry' but didn't pause.

"Windflower!" she yowled, ducking past an elderly brown-and-white she-cat and managing to crash straight into the owner of the tail, who had halted without her notice.

She knew at once that it wasn't him. The scent was all wrong, for one thing - although Chicory was sure she knew it from somewhere - and this cat had lighter tabby markings than Chicory's father. Heat flooded her, making her fur prickle with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, ears flat against her head as Snapdragon came charging through the forest of legs towards her. Peeking up at the brown cat's expression, Chicory was alarmed to discover that far from accepting her apology, he had whipped around to glare at her.

"You're one of _their_ kits," he snarled suddenly, agression and a hint of surprise in his mew. Chicory didn't dare reply, wondering what on earth this cat was meowing about. Snapdragon blinked nervously at her, and she felt a wave of guilt for dashing off on him again.

Caught off guard, Chicory only noticed that the brown cat had bent down when he scruffed her - and none too gently, either. A squeak of fright left her jaws. Too afraid to struggle, she froze as Snapdragon had done when she had picked him up earlier, belly exposed.

Cats were beginning to stare. Snapdragon's expression was one of horror.

"Sycamore!"

A feminine mew, shrill with disbelief but yet somehow sharp with command, cracked the air. Chicory glanced downwards at the rough stalks of grass, taking care not to move her head too much for fear of hurting her neck. A tawny-yellow she-cat had emerged from the throng, her eyes flashing amber fire. She was crouched low to the ground, as though to leap up and rescue Chicory herself.

"Let her go!" The mew rang with an order.

A snarl rumbled from Sycamore's throat.

"_Now_." The tawny cat's lips drew back in the beginnings of a snarl.

Too low for the enraged she-cat to hear, Sycamore growled, "Your parents would know me." Chicory could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck.

With these parting words, he released the grip on Chicory's scruff and stalked away, parting the crowd with a glare. Chicory dropped to the ground with a dull _thud_, crumpling. She didn't lift her head, too stunned to move.

"Ch-Chicory!" It was only when Snapdragon hurried over to her, genuine fear in his mew, that Chicory summoned the willpower to stand.

"I'm alright," she assured the kit, surprised at how dry her throat was. She glanced towards the tawny she-cat, meaning to mumble a 'thank you', but when their eyes met, Chicory could, for a heartbeat, only gape.

The transformation was quite incredible - from the snarling, furious creature she had been before, the she-cat had reverted into a small, soft-limbed cat, with fur surprisingly downy for her age and eyes like a doe's. When she spoke, even her voice had lost its hard, agressive edge.

"Sorry about that," she meowed apologetically. "My mate can be a mousebrain at times."

This caused another small shock - since when did cats speak to their mates like that? Chicory had certainly never heard Windflower and Holly behaving in that way. "Thanks for saving me." Chicory remembered her manners at the last heartbeat, dropping her eyes. She felt her ears grow hot, as they almost always did around other cats.

The tawny she-cat twitched her whiskers. "You're just a kit," she murmured, by way of an answer. Her mew becoming brisker, she said, "My name's Iris. Oh!" Alarm suddenly marred her features. "Perhaps it would be better not to mention our names to your parents."

With stereotypical kit-like curiousity, Snapdragon asked, "Why not?"

"Just trust me," Iris urged. "It would be better for both of us."

Before Chicory could wonder whether the sudden swiftness to Iris's tone meant that she wanted to make a quick exit, the tawny she-cat had vanished, almost melting into the darkness.

"Chicory?" The grey-striped she-cat turned at Snapdragon's tentative mew. "What now?"

Throwing a look at the swollen loch in the valley beneath them, where Twolegs were working and yowling under the still-bright moon, Chicory sighed. "Um..." was all she could come up with. Truthfully, she was wondering about her family. Iris's comment about not mentioning the meeting to her parents had reminded her of them. Fresh guilt crashed over her as she realised that she had completely abandoned Holly and Lilac, not to mention failed to find Windflower, Pine, and Snapdragon's mother.

Snapdragon's jaws gaped in a huge yawn. Chicory sympathised with him - he must have been awoken by his mother and dragged up here in the middle of the night.

"Rest," she suggested quietly, in reply to the young cat's question. As soon as the words had left Chicory's jaws, Snapdragon obediently curled up and shut his eyes, his kit-fur fluffed up against the cold.

It couldn't be too long until dawn. Chicory shut her eyes briefly.

_I wish... _she thought. _I wish, I wish... _But what should she wish? There seemed an awful lot to wish for, all of a sudden. _I wish Holly and Lilac were here. I wish I could be sure that Windflower and Pine are alive. I wish that Snapdragon could find his mother. I wish the Twolegs had never flooded the loch... I _wish_..._

Squeezing her eyes shut still tighter, until stars appeared underneath her eyelids, Chicory couldn't quash the feeling that she would need more wishes before long.


	6. Four

**Thanks to World of Make Believe and Fioralba for being the reviewing - I love you guys. This is the last chapter I'm going to post before I go away on holiday, so, yeah. I hope it'll be a good one :)**

**DISCLAIMER: Not really... Okay, not at all.**

Four

The next morning started unexpectedly for Chicory.

"Snapdragon! Oh, my dear, sweet Snapdragon!"

Vaguely irritated at being awakened prematurely - even though the sun was high in the sky - Chicory opened her eyes and stretched herself into a sitting position to see her ginger-furred comrade being attacked - at least, that was what it looked like.

It took a few heartbeats for Chicory to realise that in fact, Snapdragon was being covered with furious licks, not assaulted. She sheathed her claws, hoping no-one had noticed her defensive actions.

However, Snapdragon didn't seem to be holding up much better than if a cat double his size _was_ viciously tackling him.

"I'm fine, honestly!" he protested, struggling with a wild look in his green eyes as though he was being pursued by a pack of foxes.

Chicory purred as the grey tabby ignored him, realising that this must be Snapdragon's mother. Her previous anger had dissolved into a light amusement. _Thank the moon and stars,_ she thought. _At least I can stop feeling guilty about one thing._

Her eyes fell on a cat behind Snapdragon's mother - a black-striped grey tom with yellow eyes. Yellow eyes that were staring broodingly at Chicory. The young she-cat dropped her gaze at once, the purr dying in her throat.

"I was so _worried _about you!"

"Mari_gold_." Although Chicory was looking, she could tell that Snapdragon would be rolling his eyes. "I said, I'm _fine_. Chicory looked after me."

"Chicory?" Marigold was clearly thrown - Chicory tried to stop her shoulders slumping and forced herself to look up.

Snapdragon's tail was fluffed up and sticking straight out with excitement. "_Yes_!" he meowed enthusiastically. "When all the cats were running away, Chicory saved me from the water! She picked me up and carried me, and she almost _died_! The water was _this close_-" he squinted, eyes almost shut, to demonstrate a very small distance, "-to her paws! She almost _died_," he added again, as though he was worried that Marigold wouldn't have the right reaction.

"No, I didn't," Chicory, who had grown more and more embarrassed as the small tom babbled on, reminded him. "The loch was still a long way behind us."

"Yeah, but still!" Snapdragon didn't seem even the slightest bit put out.

To Chicory's immense chagrin, Marigold's eyes were shining with intense gratitude. "If it wasn't for you, my kit would be dead," she whispered.

"It was nothing," Chicory insisted in a mutter, lowering her eyes again. She had decided that she liked the actual _saving_ more than she liked being thanked for her deeds.

"We should be getting back." The tabby tom at the back spoke for the first time - Chicory noticed that his light tone did not match his eyes, which were still brooding. "Before Heather starts fretting."

Surprise flashed through Chicory. "Heather?" she blurted out, not being able to imagine the feisty young she-cat worrying like an anxious queen. "As in, Beech's mate?"

She paid for her words a heartbeat later as the grey tabby tom fixed her with a stare - her fur prickled with more embarrassment.

However, his tone was still friendly when he replied. "Yes, she's my sister. Her kits were born recently - two healthy she-kits."

"That's great!" Chicory exclaimed, despite her warming ears. "D-do they have names?"

"Of course they have names," Snapdragon scoffed. "They're not badgers."

"Don't be rude." Marigold cuffed her son over the ear before turning to Chicory. "They're called Cedar and Bracken." Her mew became slightly more inquisitive as she went on, "Why? Do you know her?"

"From... just from around," Chicory stuttered, becoming a little uncomfortable again. "Tell her... um, tell her I said congratulations."

Marigold nodded. "We will," she promised. Looking pointedly at Snapdragon, she mewed, "Say goodbye to Chicory now, okay?"

Looking a little crestfallen, Snapdragon padded forwards and touched his nose to Chicory's. "Bye." There was a note of sorrow in his mew. "Tell Holly and Lilac that I'm alright, okay?"

"I'll tell them Marigold found you."

"Come on, Snapdragon!" The tabby tom's raised mew caught both cats' attention.

"Coming, Foxglove!" Twitching his whiskers in a final farewell, Snapdragon turned and scampered away, into the throng of cats - who were somehow _still_ milling around, Chicory noticed. Didn't they have any place to go? She supposed not - after all, it was barely sunhigh after the night they had all lost their homes. Every cat was clearly still in shock.

A low, keening cry reached Chicory's hearing. She twitched the black tips of her ears as the cats nearest her fell silent. Not able to see what was happening above the crowd, Chicory tried to weave past a few cats, managing to squeeze past a dark red tomcat and get a side view of the loch. Six blurs - clearly cats - were bearing the body of a seventh slowly towards them. An eighth figure lagged a little way behind.

"Poor cat," some cat murmured sympathetically.

Chicory felt a slight tug at her heart. A cat was dead; drowned in the loch, by the looks of it. Pity washed over her for the dead cat's family.

The small party was coming closer. Chicory squinted, just able to make out the pelt colours of the cats.

The first few, she didn't recognise - a tawny tom and a black she-cat, followed by two blue-grey she-cat - _their kits?_ - who looked much closer to Chicory's own age. Their expressions were grim, jaws set.

As they moved into the shadow of a lone tree on the scrubby land, Chicory turned to try and see the two back cats. It was harder - the light dappling their pelts confused her as to what colour they truly were. These two cats looked much more bone-weary, dragging their paws and tails as though every pawstep cost them a great deal of effort. As the group moved out of the shade, their pelts became more visible, and Chicory leaned forward.

Her heart gave an almighty lurch as she recognised Holly and Lilac.

_No, no, no, no, no..._ She couldn't believe it... she didn't _want_ to believe it... it couldn't possibly be true that the dark brown cat they were carrying, pelt slicked close to his body with water, was-

"Windflower!" Chicory let out a howl of grief and broke ranks, for once not caring about the eyes that had suddenly turned to her.

One thought burned in her mind as she raced down the hillside, her stomach a hard knot. Windflower was always _there_ - despite the limp that the rival cats had given him, he _must_ have been able to outrun the water, and he just couldn't, couldn't _possibly_ be dead...

"Chicory."

The patrol of cats halted as Chicory reached them. The young, striped she-cat recognised her mother's voice, dull and lifeless.

A cold, damp nose pushed into her fur.

"Pine!" Chicory's breath came in gulps, but she didn't even wonder if she might faint. Her brother nodded once, shivering violently with the cold. He had clearly been in the water, too - with his pelt clinging to a lean frame, he suddenly looked much smaller. Chicory pressed her warm pelt against his freezing one immediately. "You're _alive_." The whisper was oddly choked.

"Chicory," Holly mewed again. Chicory turned. Her mother's eyes were as dark and deadened as pebbles.

She didn't say a word about Windflower's death.

"This is Poppy, Windflower's sister, her mate, Crocus, and their kits, Lavender and Cornflower." The tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat motioned to each cat in turn. "We're... going to call a meeting at once... to decide how to get out of this vile place."

Save for a touch of strangulated grief and anger on the last words, her mew held no emotion whatsoever.


	7. Five

**Thanks to World of Make Believe, Fioralba, and starpaw for being the reviewing! Yes, I am back... and starpaw, I never noticed that before. I suppose there is always angsty-ness at the beginning of my stories... Is that a good or a bad thing?**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't be mousebrained, I don't own Warriors.**

Five

Chicory thought that she would never be able to concentrate on the meeting. A dull, distracting grief for Windflower burned constantly in her belly, combined with a dark coal of hatred for the cats who had given him the injuries that slowed him.

She understood now what Iris had meant when she had warned Chicory not to mention her to her parents. If Holly heard of their meeting, Chicory was sure that she would find the tawny she-cat and claw her throat out. Chicory would have done the same if she saw her again now, never mind her being the cat who had saved her.

"It'll be okay, Chicory." Chicory jumped at the sound of Pine's flat mew. He was sitting beside her with his shoulders hunched and his tail lying flat. He hadn't been the same since their father's passing - knowing that he blamed himself for being a deadweight in the water, Chicory leaned over and licked him between his ears.

"I know it will."

Contradicting himself completely, Pine turned to her, wild desperation flaring in his eyes. "But what about Lilac? She _hates_ us, Chicory!"

"Well, that's mousebrained, because we haven't done anything wrong." The words were right, but both cats could tell that there was no belief behind Chicory's mew. It was all very odd to Chicory, too, almost like role reversal - _she_ was the one having to be strong when it was usually Pine.

_If I hadn't been messing around with Snapdragon's family, I could have helped save Windflower._ Chicory clamped her jaws shut to stop a howl of misery escaping. It was her fault, she knew it.

Lilac took this view, as well as Pine's about being a deadweight. She hadn't _said_ that she wasn't speaking to them, but the way she had struck up a new threesome with their cousins, Lavender and Cornflower, spoke volumes.

"Cats!"

The yowl came from Chicory's aunt's mate, Crocus. The tawny-furred tom was strutting around in the centre of all the cats as though he owned every last pawstep of the land where they sat, though he was not on a ground any higher than they were. Chicory and Pine craned their necks, hardly able to see through the tight-knit circle of cats surrounding Crocus, Poppy, and Holly.

"Our homes are all wrecks," Crocus began. "We have no place to go since the Twolegs overflowed the loch. We've all been wandering for a day and a night on this hilltop."

"We _know_ all this," Chicory noticed a young white she-cat hiss at her identically-coloured sister. "Why has he gathered us here to tell us things we already _know_?"

Her sister silenced her with a quiet _mrrowl_ of annoyance. "Will you shut up, Snowdrop? I think he's getting to the interesting bit."

Looking rather offended, Snowdrop turned her back on the blue-eyed cat and started whispering to the grey-and-white tom on her other side.

Unknowing of the sibling argument, Poppy picked up where her mate had left off. "We suggest that we look ourselves for somewhere to live." Her clear mew rang out. "Somewhere away. Far from here."

Holly hung back, looking unwilling to say anything at all.

To Chicory's surprise, an angry muttering began almost at once after Poppy stopped speaking, the mews merging into a buzz like that of a giant bee.

"Who are you to tell us to leave our home?" caterwauled a sleek, silvery brown tom, leaping to his paws. A single raucous yowl of approval rang out for his words.

"Our home is _gone_!" Holly spat, eyes burning. Her change in manner was immediate, and astonishing. "As are some of the cats that we love!"

A dark brown tom sneered scornfully, "One cat dead doesn't mean that we all have to go off chasing wild geese!"

Alarm coursed through Chicory as she saw her mother unsheathe her claws. _They're all being mousebrains, _she thought. _Surely no cat thinks that they can still live _here_!_

"We're too old to go gallivanting off the stars know where!" croaked an elderly grey tabby, motioning towards herself and a dark tom with a white mark on his chest. "I say we stay."

"There's still enough land for us all to get by on," agreed a golden brown tom who seemed to be at the bottom of much of the wordless yowling.

Chicory realised that they were all kidding themselves. Stuck up here, on the gorse-covered hilltops, prey would be comprised mainly of rabbits and the odd bird, which only the quickest cats could catch - and even they were scarce.

As if agreeing with Chicory's thoughts, a small, silvery-brown she-kit mewed excitedly, "Can we go, Lime? Can we, _please_?"

Lime, a pale brown tom with green eyes, responded harshly. "No," he growled. "You're far too young."

The kit's disappointment showed at once. Pine, who had obviously been listening, too, boldly yowled, "How are you going to feed your kits?"

"You're hardly more than a kit yourself," mewed a dark grey-and-white tabby wryly.

Pine bristled, showing a flash of his old spirit. "I'm very nearly eight moons!" Chicory registered how quickly cats were changing their emotions. _Things are tense._

The grey-and-white cat's eyes narrowed. A brown tom pushed his way through the crowd.

"It's not your place to talk here!" he snarled at Pine. Chicory shrank back, but Pine just spat in defiance.

_When did he get so bold... _again_?_

A white she-cat with a black ring halfway down her tail pleaded, "Wallflower, think about what you're do-"

"Be quiet, Scabious!" Wallflower cut her off before turning to flash out a paw twice the size of Chicory's own. Chicory's screech as she caught sight of her brother's blood merged with Pine's wail of pain.

For a split heartbeat, no cat moved.

Then the hillside exploded.

"Don't you _dare_ treat my son like that!" Holly bunched her muscles and leapt easily over a couple of elders. She landed directly on top of Wallflower, and the two cats became a writhing mass of fur and claws.

"No! Don't!" To Chicory's horror, most of the cats seemed to be following Holly and Wallflower's example. Fights were breaking out all over the place, and Pine had disappeared. Chicory crouched down low and flattened her ears in fright, eyes darting around. _Where's Pine?_

To her immense relief, he emerged a couple of heartbeats later, fur torn and blood trickling down his face from a scratch in his cheek. Chicory's relief turned to a panic when she saw the state he was in.

"Aren't you going to _fight_?" he demanded, eyes flashing. Mute, Chicory could only shake her head, her blue eyes wide with fear. _I can't get involved!_

Pine shook his head in disgust.

"_She-cats_!" he muttered, clearly irritated, before bounding back into the battle.

"Wait! Pine, _wait_!" Finding her tongue, Chicory hurtled after her brother. She didn't want to lose him after just finding out he was alive. And exactly where was Holly? She and Wallflower had been lost soon after the battle had gone into full swing.

Blood spattered the ground, making Chicory's stomach lurch. _That could be Pine's! Or Holly's, or... or Lilac's!_

Chicory's promise to herself that she would stay away from the fighting was to be broken in heartbeats. As she gazed at the bloodstains, appalled, she failed to notice a flash of dark tawny fur behind her. The many scents confused her nose, and without warning a heavy weight dropped onto her back.

"Ouch!" Chicory wheezed, winded, as an outstretched paw caught her on the back of the head. She tried her best to struggle free, but this she-cat seemed slightly older than her, and was clearly bigger and stronger than she was.

Teeth met in her ear, piercing the delicate skin there. Hot breath panted against her ear, which she involuntarily twitched, hating the feel of it - which only increased the pain. Chicory attempted vainly to jerk her head away as another scent hit her nose - but she couldn't tell whether it came from another fight or if there was another cat attacking her.

As the teeth slackened their grip, Chicory's muzzle was pressed into the heather by a strong paw. All she could see was dry, brittle grass, and she quickly shut her eyes to prevent them from being scratched. However, this did not stop the stems from tickling her nose. Chicory sneezed.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you how to fight?" taunted a low mew next to her ear. Yes, Chicory was certain of it now - there were definitely _two_ cats attacking her.

However, the knowledge clearly wasn't going to be a lot of help in this situation. The first cat had now unsheathed her claws into Chicory's spine, and from what Chicory's nose was telling her, the second cat was weaving jeeringly in front of them, probably with his tail held high in the air at the easy victory.

Holly and Windflower had never taught Chicory any _proper _fighting - she knew the basic scratching and biting technique, but that was the extent of her knowledge.

"You fight like a kit!" sneered the tawny she-cat who had jumped on Chicory first.

_I am a kit._

"Pine!" Chicory opened her jaws to wail, but it came out muffled as her tongue tasted dirt. She swiped out a front paw feebly, but it only brushed long stalks of grass. Both opposing cats let out amused purrs. Humiliation swept through Chicory's pelt.

"Where's Iris?" mewed the second cat suddenly.

At the mention of the tawny she-cat, Chicory stiffened, fur prickling. What did these two cats know of Iris and Sycamore?

The first cat was offhand. "Who cares where our mother is? This is _our_ victory, Ivy. I want it to be ours alone."

"But, _Tu-lip_." He separated the word into two syllables, dragging it out in a whiny-kit fashion. "What about our _parents_?" Chicory was no longer listening, a slow, familiar fury building in her limp paws.

These cats were unmistakably the kits of the cat that had effectively killed Chicory's father.


	8. Six

**Thanks to World of Make Believe, Anonomsus (if you were trying to spell 'anonymous', you fail, no offence...), Willowfur, starpaw, Fioralba, and Flock (You're _back_! =hugs=) for reviewing! Well, I know it's been a bit of time since I updated... But here we are nonetheless :D**

**DISCLAIMER: If you think I own Warriors... FAIL.**

Six

Chicory wasn't sure what to do with this new emotion. If course, she had experienced anger at cats before, but that seemed to be a pale echo of what was happening now.

Blood roared in her ears as the anger pulsed through her veins. Chicory was sure that fury was supposed to make you stronger and somehow all-powerful in the heat of the moment, but it seemed to be having the opposite effect on her. Her paws felt too heavy to lift, as though literally weighed down with her rage, as well as the fact that her mind seemed to be working at about half the speed it usually did, refusing to cooperate and simply drumming out '_they killed Windflower, they killed Windflower, they killed Windflower_' over and over again.

As she tried to think over this pounding rhythm and puzzle out what would be most logical to do - attack, flee, stay limp in the tawny cat's paws - a cat's desperate yowl rose above the noise of the battle.

"Please! You _can't_ want this!"

In that heartbeat, as though controlled by the mew, Iris and Sycamore's kits - Tulip and Ivy - flinched away from Chicory as though she had burned them.

A new emotion swept through Chicory - relief. She was finally able to raise her head, open her eyes, and get to her paws. The anger was dimming slightly now, the chanting in her head a dull throbbing rather than a heavy drumming. The white she-cat arched her head over her back to lap at her pelt briefly, which was strewn with leaf litter, especially her belly where it had been pressed to the ground.

However, the antagonism in her system had not dissipated completely, and, remembering Tulip and Ivy, Chicory straightened and narrowed her eyes. But the two cats seemed to have melted into the throng of cats, all of whom were poised mid-strike, heads turned towards the cat who had yowled and eyes confused.

"There's no _point_! _Fighting _like this... there's not a _point_!" Chicory's attention snapped back to the she-cat speaking. There was a definite plea to her mew, but that wasn't all. It was _familiar_ to Chicory - almost too familiar.

Ducking past a black she-cat with a white tail-tip, who was freeze-framed in a battle stance with a very young cream-furred she-cat, Chicory followed the source of the mew back to the point where Crocus, Poppy, and Holly had spoken earlier.

Two tiny kits - one grey tabby, one dark brown and tortoiseshell-splashed - caught Chicory's attention before the actual cat talking. They were both gazing adoringly up at their mother, green eyes round and shining. They didn't realise the gravity of the situation. The last dregs of Chicory's anger drained away as a nagging in the back of her mind tried to inform her that she _did_ know the speaker.

"...not even a proper unit, so why should we _all_ leave together? Yes, we'd probably be stronger as one, but are we really going to _be_ one with how quickly we jump to fights?"

Heather's mew was low and despairing, yellow eyes passionate. Twitching her whiskers in surprise, Chicory wondered briefly at how much motherhood had changed the young cat in the two moons since they'd met before the meaning of what Heather was saying caught up with her.

"Much as I hate to admit it, you're making sense," called out an elderly pale brown she-cat, a mixture of bashfulness to be speaking out and shame to be backing down clouding her expression.

"Cowslip?" A long-furred black tom sitting next to her flicked his ear in confusion.

Cowslip butted the tom's flank affectionately. "Oh, can't you see, you daft furball?" she purred. "If this cat's idea works, we can still stay right here."

The black tom's eyes weren't the only pair that gleamed with a sudden understanding and glee. The silence broke as understanding dawned on ever cat. The murmurings, which had been almost nonexistent before, grew louder and more pronounced among the cats.

"We can stay, we can stay!" Chicory let out a light purr as she recognised the ecstatic yowl of Snowdrop, the white she-cat who had muttered all the way through Crocus's earlier speech. Two more meows - presumably Snowdrop's siblings' - joined her chant. "We can stay, we can stay, we can stay!"

It was a simple plan, Chicory realised, but the perfect solution. Of course they didn't all need to leave. The cats who wanted to stay wouldn't want to be _dragged_ along, anyway.

"It'll be less pressure on prey if only a few of us stay behind," a grey tomcat spoke up.

"That's true, too," agreed Heather, over the noise. As the hubbub subsided slightly, the dark silver she-cat flicked her tail at her now-play-fighting kits in mild scolding. "So I propose," -she raised her mew slightly- "that we should gather into two groups - _go _and _stay_. The _stay_ cats can gather beside that dead tree over there, and _go_ cats can stay here."

As soon as the words left Heather's jaws, Chicory spotted Snowdrop and her grey-and-white-furred brother break ranks and pelt towards the blackened, rotting tree nearby. A little further behind followed a cream-furred she-cat and two older cats, evidently their parents.

"Hurry up, Primrose! You're so _slow_!" Snowdrop yowled, but there was teasing in her mew.

"Coming!" The cream-furred she-cat sped up her pace, leaving her mother and father to amble.

It was as though the young cats' conversation was a signal. Like dogs following a Twoleg command, cats began to migrate towards the dead tree, a steady stream of ginger, black, brown, white, and tortoiseshell fur.

Chicory retreated backwards, not wanting to get caught up with the _stay_ cats. She was considerably surprised at how many of them there were. There was nothing keeping _her_ here, nothing, and the young cat was almost as eager as Holly to escape the place where Windflower had died.

"Cedar! Bracken! Come on, stay here. You want to go on a big adventure, don't you?"

Chicory jumped at Heather's mew. The dark silver queen was evidently trying to round up her two kits and stop them getting lost.

"So, you're leaving?" Despite her casual tone, Chicory felt the usual embarrassment almost choke her at speaking to another cat.

Heather didn't look at all surprised to see her. Her yellow eyes narrowed. "Trust me, I'm not planning to bring up my kits anywhere swarming with Twolegs. Behave, Cedar," she added, tone sharpening. Nudging the wriggly grey kit closer to her side, she nodded at a silvery-brown she-cat with an identically coloured kit. "Unlike _that_ mousebrain over there, I'm being a good mother."

Chicory recognised the tomcat Lime's kit from earlier, when she had begged to leave. Swivelling her ears to listen in on their conversation, she noticed that the kit's wishes hadn't changed.

"But I want to _go_!" the kit complained, trying to tug herself away from her mother. "Why can't we _go_, Willow? _Please_?"

Her mother snapped back, "You're too little, Elder. There wouldn't be enough prey, and it would get too cold. Besides, we've always lived here. Give me one good reason why that should change."

"Because I want to _go_!" Elder wailed with typical kit-like stubbornness.

"Great moon above!" sighed Willow.

Beside Chicory, Heather snorted. Chicory thought she heard her mutter something about 'downy feathers' and 'brains'. The pale striped she-cat twitched her whiskers, amused, as Heather noticed that she was there.

"I suppose I'd better leave..." she mewed hurriedly, trying to disguise her annoyance with Willow and failing badly. At Chicory's startled look, she added, "Leave to find Beech, I mean. Toms are never around when they're needed." She shook her head.

Even before Heather stopped talking, Chicory was thinking about her own family. What had happened to Holly and Pine? And Lilac, for that matter? "Me too," she agreed vaguely.

"Do you want me to help you find them?" offered Heather.

Thinking of Holly, Chicory shook her head quickly.

Heather's eyes darkened, obviously thinking along the same lines. "Hmm. Maybe you're right. Your mother and I... didn't exactly part on the best terms the last time we met."

Chicory nodded fervently in agreement. She certainly didn't fancy provoking her mother any more than was necessary. "Well... Bye," she mumbled.

"Goodbye." Heather hesitated, and then bent to clumsily lick Chicory between the ears. "You're a good cat, Chicory," she meowed awkwardly. Chicory was visited by the idea that she was not the only cat that felt uncomfortable among other cats.

Heather's eyes flicked back to her two kits, who had vanished, obviously mischief-bound. "_Kits_!" she screeched, darting away without another word.

Chicory purred in amusement, eyes warm. She hoped that she wouldn't become that much of a worrier if and when she ever had kits of her own.

The purr died in her throat as she wondered, yet again, where her family were. Most of the cats had now separated into _go_ and_ stay_, and Chicory assumed that her family would be on the _go_ side, and yet...

But, as it turned out, Chicory didn't have to look very far. Heartbeats into her search, a tortoiseshell blur dodged through the crowd and careered into her, knocking her backwards. Chicory's nose told her that she had just been winded by her sister.

"Chicory!" Lilac's eyes were wide.

"Lilac!" Chicory gasped crossly, struggling into a more dignified position. She wanted to ask 'why are you speaking to me' but that seemed rude, so she settled instead for, "What are you doing here?"

"It's Lavender and Cornflower," explained Lilac, her mew high-pitched and her eyes still wide. "And Crocus and Poppy."

This information didn't move Chicory. "Oh." _Your beloved._ "And?" she challenged boldly.

Lilac fixed her with a yellow glare, before announcing, "They're staying behind!"


	9. Seven

**Thanks to Flock World of Make Believe, Jay Witness, Fioralba, and Willowfur (Yeah, I did. Hey, it was an extra review =shrugs=) for reviewing! Yup, Lilac is being Little Miss Contrary at the moment... And I know it's been a while. Again. I'll try and get things moving better lately...**

**DISCLAIMER: I own Warriors. Please send royalties. ...Actually, I lied.**

Seven

"Windflower would have wanted you to come."

Chicory saw that Holly was close to begging when she arrived with Lilac. Holly seemed to be speaking to Poppy, Windflower's sister, in particular, going for the guilt-trip tactic. There was pain and worry shadowing Poppy's eyes, but her mate and kits simply looked uncomfortable. Lavender or Cornflower - Chicory couldn't tell which was which, as their pelts were an identical blue-grey - was shifting her weight from paw to paw, looking as though she were painfully eager to leave the conversation.

Crocus stepped forward. "We've _got to stay_ with Bluebell and Gaillardia," he emphasised. "Poppy doesn't want to leave her parents - and she doesn't want to leave Scilla and Stitchwort, either."

Chicory stayed a cautious pawstep back from the crowd, but tipped her head onto one side in confusion. _Bluebell and Gaillardia? _she wondered. _Scilla and Stitchwort?_

Not missing this, Lilac rolled her eyes. "Bluebell and Gaillardia are - were - Windflower's parents, and Scilla's his brother. Stitchwort's his sister," she hissed. "Where have you _been_?" she added cruelly.

Before Chicory could open her jaws, Lilac had darted away to rub muzzles with Lavender and Cornflower, purring in a sad farewell. Chicory knew Lilac too well to delude herself into thinking that Lilac had dashed off so quickly because she was guilty at what she had said.

She gritted her teeth, annoyed. _You haven't known them three sunrises! _she wanted to spit. _Don't act like they're your sisters and I'm not!_

Trying to shut out her mother's whiny, still-begging meow, Chicory looked around swiftly for other things to occupy her mind.

A little way off sat an elderly dark red tabby, his tail around the shoulders of a small, frail-looking brown and white she-cat. Despite the tom clearly being in the position of comforting the other, he too was gazing upon Poppy with an anxious expression.

The realisation that they must be Bluebell and Gaillardia came with a rush of emotion that Chicory couldn't quite identify. So soon after losing Windflower, it was strange to discover that he had had all this family - and Chicory wasn't sure that it was strange in a good way, either. Her cousins had spirited away her sister, and now Holly seemed to have changed into a totally different, desperate cat with the knowledge that her mate's family wished to stay.

Vaguely, Chicory thought how finicky they all were. Crocus and Poppy had been the ones to speak out for leaving in the first place, and now, because of some cats with a couple of fancy names, they had snapped in a heartbeat and changed their minds.

"Cats who wish to leave!"

Chicory's head whipped around as Heather's mew rang out again, confident and commanding.

"We leave at dawn!" The dark silver she-cat's mew was greeted by yowls of approval from the rest. "Rest; we may have a long journey ahead."

Poppy's eyes flickered awkwardly between Holly and her own parents. "I have to go..." she murmured, sounding slightly unwilling to have to say the parting words. "My brother and sister are waiting."

For the first time, Chicory saw two younger cats next to her grandparents - a dark red tom not unlike Gaillardia, and a brown and cream she-cat.

"Come _on_, Poppy!" called the tom impatiently. "Daffodil's waiting!"

Poppy managed a slight purr. "His mate," she mumured, half to herself. "That cat is like a moonstruck rabbit around her." A heartbeat later, she shook herself, blinking, before padding forwards to touch noses with Holly.

Both she-cats looked like they wanted to say more, but couldn't find the words. Eventually, Poppy ducked her head and padded slowly towards the dead tree, Crocus, Lavender, and Cornflower following.

"I'll miss them," meowed Lilac sorrowfully, almost as an afterthought.

An angry hiss behind Chicory made her jump. She hadn't known Pine was there, too, but to be honest, there had been bigger things than her brother on her mind.

"Then why don't you _join_ them?" The dark brown tom spat out each word.

Lilac assumed a hurt, martyred look. "Why would I do that? You're my family."

Pine's only reply was a low growl in the back of his throat. Chicory guessed that he was distressed, but afraid to show it. Tentatively, she licked his flank.

"Oh, just leave me alone, Chicory."

Stung, Chicory flinched away.

Holly did nothing to stop her bickering kits. She simply gazed after Poppy and Crocus with a wistful expression.

A shudder rippled along Chicory's spine. There was something deeply, deeply wrong with all four of them.

###

"Celandine!"

A wail ripped through the silence of dark, startling Chicory into consciousness. Peering in the near-blackness, she was able to make out a couple of white-furred cats standing not far off. There might have been others, but Chicory's eyes wouldn't respond to any more squinting.

Several cats made hushing noises towards the cat who had wailed.

"We'll look after her. We'll look after her!" hissed a voice, evidently trying to calm down another. Straining her ears this time, Chicory realised there was a sound underlying all - a detatched panting that sounded close to hysterical.

"Can't leave - family - never see her - again!" The new voice was muted but shrill the gasps, and the words were slotted around wild gasps.

"Please, calm down!" begged the first mew. "I promise, we'll take good care of her."

A young cat mewed, sounding quite wary, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Chicory settled her chin back onto her paws and closed her eyes. It was another cat who had decided to leave the rest of their family. Scenarios like this one had been breaking out all night - kits mewling, frightened, mothers losing kits, and siblings being parted. Chicory could only hope that every cat would be sorted by morning, and the last bonds, however painful, would have been broken.

This time, it seemed that one of Snowdrop's sisters, Celandine, had decided to leave. The knowledge came as mildly suprising - their whole family had been among the most eager to stay by the loch.

"I'm sorry, Fuschia. I'm sorry," Celandine repeated, sounding defeated.

Chicory wondered how long away dawn was. Exhaustion would have slowed her paws had she gotten up now, but at the same time, her mind seemed fully awake and functional.

She could hear the deep, slow breathing of Lilac, Pine, and Holly nearby. It saddened her that she wasn't on very good terms with any of them at the moment - unless you counted Holly to an extent, and Chicory was rather afraid to go near her.

After Windflower's death, she had been acting so strange... Kit-like, almost... _Kits... _Snapdragon was a kit. Was Snapdragon leaving with Marigold and Foxglove...? Chicory hoped so... she missed the ginger tom's boundless enthusiasm, and... energy... and... and...

...And Chicory was running through a fully-restored forest, untouched by the loch's flooding. She felt as though joy should have swept away every other emotion, but an odd sort of sorrow ran through her core.

Sorrow? How did that even make sense? Her home was back...

_But it's not my home. It was never my home._

She tried to ignore the voice in her head, to concentrate on running though the trees... But they were too dark, too close together, and the sunlight didn't dapple the ground enough for her to feel safe...

Chicory wasn't sure when the panic first hit her, but suddenly she was hyperventilating like the cat Fuschia had been for Celandine, terror washing over her in waves.

And then there were the voices, all shouting her name. Different, but seemingly one.

"Chicory!"

"Chicory!"

"Chicory!"

"_Chicory_!"

The forest vanished. Pine was leaning over her, a disgruntled look on his face. Chicory's heart was still racing, and her eyes were wide as she gazed up at her brother.

"Chicory, it's time to leave."


	10. Eight

**Thanks to World of Make Believe, Courageflame, Fioralba, and Willowfur for reviewing! It's another update! I am so good to you people...**

**DISCLAIMER: NOTHING HERE IS MINE! 'Cept this cookie. =eats cookie=**

Eight

The atmosphere was strangely bleak as the cats prepared to leave. Last heartbeat, murmured goodbyes filled the air with their sorrow, and even though Chicory was not leaving behind any cats she particularly cared about, sadness pricked her pelt like thorns.

"Where are we going?" she dared ask Holly timidly. This morning, there was a strange, fierce fire burning in Chicory's mother's eyes.

"Who knows?" Holly didn't meet her daughter's eyes - instead, she gazed through the white, swirling mist of the moors that the sun hadn't yet had the chance to burn off. Her mew was far away, but yet it had the odd passion of her eyes. "At least we're leaving. The sky's the limit. We can go anywhere, do anything..."

Chicory found herself taking a few pawsteps backwards. Didn't Holly feel anything towards the place where her mate had died?

Holly was still speaking, but as Chicory listened, she realised that her mother wasn't talking to her anymore. "...oh, I'm sorry, my love. But you will be with me always - won't you? Promise me? Oh, Windflower. Thank you. _Thank you_. I love you." A delighted purr rose from Holly's throat as she seemed to rub her head against a flank that Chicory couldn't see.

_She's mad,_ thought Chicory, horror-stricken at the hallucinogenic behaviour. _She's literally lost her mind._

Did Holly truly think that Windflower was standing there next to her, purring as she was? Or was she simply making it up, pretending, to keep his spirit alive?

Thoughts whirled chaotically around in Chicory's head, a jumble of images. She didn't realise that she had stepped backwards a few paces until she heard a slightly irate '_ouch_!' from behind her.

Flushing under her fur, the white she-cat murmured an instinctive apology before she had even turned around.

"You never look where you're going, do you, you silly kit?"

Chicory's head snapped back so swiftly that she heard a _crack_ as she cricked her neck. Any other cat would have yowled "You!" in fury and leapt on the tom without a second thought, but Chicory was frozen to the spot with a mixture of fear and surprise.

"Y-you can't be that much older than me," she stammered at the tortoiseshell tom finally, cursing herself at how vulnerable her mew sounded.

"Mousebrain." Iris's son's mew was full of contempt. "I'm only small because I'm an invalid."

The matter-of-fact way he phrased the sentence confused Chicory. "You... what?"

"I'm an invalid," repeated the tom. "Weak immune system. Tortoiseshells are supposed to be she-cats." He raised a dappled forepaw and licked it swiftly. "Bet I'm not as much of a kit as you are." Raising his head arrogantly, he mewed, "Six moons. And you?"

A kind of vindictive pleasure rose inside Chicory among the usual clutter of chagrin. "Eight m-moons." In her head, her mew was cool and superior, but when she spoke the words, it was a soft mutter, as usual.

The tortoiseshell didn't seem fazed. "I'm sure I far exceed you in maturity, though," he murmured, almost to himself. "I mean, just look at you. You're as awkward as a two-moon kit!"

Shock rippled down Chicory's spine as she realised how much that comment hurt. She knew it was _true_. She was unwieldy; she was embarrassed around other cats. Chicory _knew_ she didn't fit in. She had always stuck out like a sore paw. But she had never had another cat say it out loud.

"Thanks a _lot_," she hissed in a mutter, swinging around to rejoin her mother. The cats had started to move now – with Heather and Beech at the head, they swarmed as a single-bodied entity, Cedar and Bracken trotting proudly behind their parents.

Chicory and the tortoiseshell tom now lagged behind the rest of the cats. Fond farewells were now fading into memory as the cats staying behind just stared after them, saying nothing. Chicory got the idea that the silence was slightly forlorn. After all, this was goodbye… forever.

"Oops. I'm sorry… It's true, though. You're not very mature for eight moons."

Annoyance and embarrassment pricked Chicory's pelt again as the tortoiseshell's mew reached her ears. She could hear his paws pattering on the tufty ground behind her, and promptly picked up her pace.

"Listen, I didn't know that would offend you…" His mew was pleading now, but Chicory ignored it. "I just wanted to talk to you… I mean… Say sorry for attacking you. I've thought it over, and I don't think it was called f-" He broke off.

Chicory had tripped on a clump of heather and gone crashing to the ground, muzzle-first. Humiliation coursing through her, she jumped up and shook herself, before swinging around to face the now-purring tomcat.

"Listen, whatever your name is, 'cause _I_ can't remember it, you are not the sort of cat…" Chicory faltered, spluttering, as her words came out almost unintelligibly. The tom looked mildly confused, but somehow managed to retain his arrogance.

"Do you want to get those words out, or what?" The tom asked, in what could have passed as a snort. "And it's _Ivy_, in case you didn't remember.

Chicory didn't purr.

"Ivy," she growled, irritation sparking clarity in her mew. "Your father killed mine. _Leave_. _Me_. _Alone_."

Without waiting for his reply, Chicory bolted, haring off towards the throng of moving cats before Ivy's hurt expression could take a toll on her guilt levels.

###

"Mari_gold_," the small ginger kit was whining. "How much _longer_?"

His mother blinked fondly, albeit tiredly, down at him. "Not much longer, I promise."

"But how _long_?" Snapdragon begged to know, dragging his paws behind him at a little faster than a snail's pace. "I want our old home back."

"Our home _is_ here," Foxglove mewed from Snapdragon's other side. "All the important parts, anyway. The cats we love are here, and that's what counts."

Snapdragon pondered this for a heartbeat as the three cats plodded along in the midst of the throng. The tough, heathery moorland had given way to softer green fronds several days ago, and although Snapdragon was grateful for the soothing grass underpaw, it didn't stop him from missing his old home by the lochside.

As for his father's argument about the cats they loved being there... Well, Snapdragon could only think of a couple of cats that he actually _knew_. Aside from Foxglove and Marigold, of course, he saw his aunts and uncles from time to time. He had his cousins, too, but even though Nettle and Candytuft were nice enough, he knew they preferred playing on their own, and Cedar and Bracken were still young enough to be under Heather's watchful eye every other heartbeat.

The only cats that Snapdragon had ever met who weren't related to him were Holly, Lilac, and Chicory. It had been Chicory who had saved him. It had been Chicory who had seemed so timid, but had helped him find Marigold again, and Chicory who didn't treat him like a mousebrained newborn.

"Chicory," he mewed suddenly.

Marigold blinked sleepily at the ginger tom. Snapdragon was a little put out. _It _is_ approaching sunset, but she could at least have the decency to listen to me! _he thought indignantly, conveniently forgetting his earlier complaints.

"What was that, honey?" the grey tabby she-cat asked.

Snapdragon bristled a little. He _hated_ being called 'honey'. "I want Chicory!" he meowed loudly.

Marigold's gaze clouded a little with confusion. "Chicory...?" she repeated doubtfully.

"...Wasn't she that shy little cat we found you with?" put in Foxglove.

Fluffing his tail out in annoyance, Snapdragon mewed, "She wasn't just that 'shy little she-cat'! She saved my life!"

"Yes, sweetheart," was Marigold's condescending reply, ignoring her son's request for the young she-cat.

Snapdragon lapsed into a huffy silence, deciding to give his parents the silent treatment.

_She did save my life! _he thought, again and again, staring into the red-stained sky. _She _did_!_

"Don't look directly at the sun," came his mother's warning mew.

Snapdragon didn't reply, still in a mood. _If I want to look at the sun, maybe I _will_!_

"_Ouch_!"

His screech sounded two heartbeats later, making every cat within five foxlengths jump and look around. Snapdragon had stopped, frozen, his eyes tightly shut and his face screwed up.

Foxglove rushed to his side. "What happened?" he mewed, concerned.

Snapdragon opened one eye a crack, and stared at the ground. A round circle was burned into his vision.

"...I looked directly at the sun," he muttered sullenly.

**Yeah, I know, a bit of a rubbish ending, but I had a bit of trouble with the Writer's Block on this chapter. The words just didn't want to flow. Anyway, this is most likely the last you'll see of me and _Torrent_ for a while, what with the fact that I'm going on camp in three days. Just don't expect many updates, like it says on my profile.**


	11. Nine

**Here I am, finally back with another chapter! I hope all of you can remember what's going on in the story, because I sure couldn't before I started writing... I had to go back and re-read my own story... Anyway, thanks to World of Make Believe, mink'prowl, Willowfur, Fioralba, and starpaw for reviewing!**

**Oh, and 'No name'... Ever heard of that thing called 'spelling'? Yeah, that. Well, please employ it in future so that you can give me a proper flame.**

**DISCLAIMER: I... no. I don't own Warriors. Not yet, anyway. =evil laugh=**

Nine

A shiver ran down Chicory's spine as she felt the soft grass underpaw change smoothly to hard Twoleg stuff, cold and strange. She wished that she had a familiar pelt to press against like some of the kits were, but there was no way Chicory was going to try to search out Holly in this darkness.

It was past moonhigh, but Heather had insisted that they could all get a few more pawsteps of ground covered before finding a place to sleep. Chicory hadn't been the only one to be dubious about this plan, especially when they had seen the bright lights of the fabled Twolegplace before them, winking like a fallen piece of the night sky. In fact, a whole family of cats, complete with two young kits, had decided not to follow them into Twolegplace, but instead stay in the grass, claiming that they would catch up in the morning.

Now that she was here, Chicory half-wished that it had been _her_ family to stay. Bright, yellow lights gleamed harshly every couple of foxlengths like miniature suns. In the distance, Chicory could hear the roar of what must have been the Thunderpath.

Fur brushed her flank. Chicory instinctively shrank back. The other cat pressed against her, obviously trying to give comfort.

"Pine?" Chicory dared to mew. It was too dark for her too make out who it was. Only then did she realise how quiet it was - most cats were just wearily trudging on, not bothering to speak to their companions, or mewing in hushed tones.

"Shh. It'll all look better in the morning." The answering whisper stirred Chicory's ear fur. Chicory's trepidation vanished instantly.

"Ivy!" she hissed in outrage, pulling herself away from him at once. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make out his tortoiseshell-splashed pelt, but she could only see his silhouette in the light the artificial suns gave out.

"Ah, come on, Chic, give me a chance! I just want to travel with you!" pleaded Ivy, his mew low.

Chicory didn't answer, heat flooding her pelt. She dropped her eyes as she annoyance battled with her chagrin.

However, Ivy seemed to take her silence as an invitation to say more. He continued eagerly, "I'd be nice, I promise I would. So would Tulip. I'd _make _her be nice to you. Somehow."

_He's persistent, I'll give him that,_ thought Chicory grudgingly. The embarrassment was still searing her pelt too much for her to tell him to go away, so it was with an unfamiliar surge of relief that she caught sight of Lilac, momentarily awash in the round circle of light that one of her miniature suns gave out.

"I can see my sister over there," she blurted out quickly. "I'd better go and... um... see what she wants."

Swiftly, the white-striped she-cat ducked and weaved her way through the crowd until she reached Lilac's tortoiseshell fur.

"Lilac, please," she puffed, before her sister had a chance to say anything, "just do this one thing for me. Anything. Any excuse, just talk to me. I need to get away from..." she hesitated, "...someone."

Interest flashed across Lilac's expression. "Of course I will, Chicory," she meowed innocently. "You're my sister. Now tell me-" her mew became more animated, "-is it a tom?"

Chicory flushed under her fur. "Maybe."

"Ooh, _who_?" asked Lilac keenly, her eyes widening. "It's okay, you can tell me - I used to talk to Cornflower and Lavender about this sort of thing all the time. I don't think they really got it about Beech, though..." she added ruefully, her mew softening on Beech's name.

Chicory sighed internally. They had arrived at Lavender and Cornflower - and Beech, someone who Chicory had forgotten about. _I'm going to have to do something about that,_ she thought. _Heather wouldn't be happy if she found out..._

But at the same time, if Lilac wanted to blither on about Beech all night, that was fine by her. Chicory _definitely_ wasn't comfortable with discussing Ivy.

Because Ivy wasn't a tom in the way Lilac saw them. Thinking on this, Chicory made a face.

No, Ivy wasn't a tom in _that_ way at all.

###

Ivy might not have been a tom in _that_ was, but Chicory had to admit that he was right.

Everything _did_ look better in the morning.

The Twolegs seemed to turn off the false suns when the real sun rose. The monsters were a background droning rather that a distraction to cause frayed nerves, and while the cats were left to their own devices to hunt and explore before they left, Chicory discovered that Twolegs seemed to like having patches of grass in varying sizes behind their nests.

"Lilac! Pine!" Chicory hissed, balancing precariously on a fence. "This nest has one, too!"

She heard a skittering of paws behind her before Lilac and Pine leapt onto the fence on either side of her. Joy swelled in Chicory's chest that she was hunting with her brother and sister again, even if Pine _was_ refusing to speak to Lilac. Truth be told, Chicory still wasn't too comfortable with what she considered to be her sister's 'betrayal' either, but it felt right to be doing this. Just the three of them.

"Whoa." Pine slipped down off the fence onto the rectangle of carefully trimmed grass. "Why do Twolegs _have_ these things?"

Lilac leapt down lightly to join him. "I guess even Twolegs want a patch of the forest sometimes," she teased.

Acting as though Lilac hadn't spoken, Pine gazed at Chicory enquiringly, as though waiting for an answer.

"Um, yeah... what Lilac said," murmured Chicory, hiding her discomfort by sliding down the fence so that she was alongside her siblings.

Lilac, who had ignored Pine's less-than-warm response to her joke, was sniffing around the edges of the fence.

"What in the moon's name are you doing?" asked Chicory in confusion. Lilac went on snuffling around the vertical planks of wood that made up the fence as she answered.

"I can smell... the forest."

Surprised, Chicory opened her jaws and let the flavours of Twolegplace rush in. Sure enough, underneath the tang of monsters and Twolegs, a faint, musky scent of leaves bathed her tongue. "Me too," she meowed, the usual delight filling her that she could speak freely in front of Lilac and Pine without fear of awkwardness or stutter. She twisted her head around. Pine was still standing in the middle of the grass, acting as though Lilac didn't exist. However, he looked a little put out that Chicory was acknowledging her.

"Can you smell anything, Pine?" Chicory wanted to know, vaguely annoyed with her brother's lack of participation.

Looking distinctly happier, Pine trotted up to the two she-cats and gestured with his muzzle to a spot a little further along the fence. "Yes," he mewed. "And if my eyes are working properly, it looks like there's a hole in the fence." His tone was slightly haughty. Chicory could tell that he'd been working on this while Lilac had been sniffing.

At once, Lilac's head snapped up, and she dashed to where Pine had pointed. "There is!" Surprise coloured her mew. Chicory, joining her, saw that the gap was fairly small, about the size for a fox to squeeze through. The unnaturally neat grass was scuffed around it, dug up and turned over to reveal the dark earth underneath. Without another heartbeat's pause, Lilac stooped and thrust her head and front paws through the opening.

"Superior Sniffer? Yes, I know I am," murmured Pine to himself.

"I can scent fox!" reported Lilac from the other side of the fence, her meow muffled. "It's stale, though," she added quickly. A fox must have made the hole, as Chicory had thought.

Lilac's tortoiseshell haunches gave a little wriggle, and then disappeared.

"Wow! This is like a real adventure!" Was Chicory imagining a slightly mocking, insincere edge to Lilac's mew? "Come on! It smells so _good_ out here!"

Chicory glanced at Pine. "Do you think we should?"

Slowly, the dark brown cat blinked. "There's prey out there," he reasoned.

With these parting words, he darted forward and squeezed through the hole.

Not wanting to be left behind, Chicory struggled underneath the fence after her brother. She could feel some of her fur catching on the fence as it scraped her back, and she gritted her teeth in slight pain as they tugged at her pelt.

As she finally freed herself - minus a few tufts of fur - her ears pricked.

"Can you hear that?" she asked, her mew hushed.

Lilac, who had previously been batting at a butterfly like a wayward kit, looked up at her sister. "Hear what?"

"I can hear birds." Pine swiped his tongue around his muzzle. "And I'm _hungry_."

"No, no," mewed Chicory impatiently. A strange feeling of dread had risen up inside her chest at the sound. "Something different."

All three young cats fell silent and strained their ears as the sound wailed again.

Pine's green eyes were wide as he turned to his white-furred sister. "Chicory!" he said, urgency edging his mew. "That's a kit!"


	12. Ten

**Thanks to World of Make Believe and Through Another's Eyes for reviewing! Yes, it's been forever... but this is finally the latest chapter of Torrent - and I have to say that it's a turning point. I had fun writing it, and I hope you'll have just as much fun reading ^_^**

**'No name'... for goodness' sake. If my writing is so awful, why are you even bothering to keep on reading and reviewing? And yes, maybe I _would_ be jealous of your writing... if I'd ever seen any of it. You sign in with an anonymous pen name at the moment, so I can't see anything to be jealous of except your atrocious flaming skills.**

**DISCLAIMER: I really, really don't own Warriors. Not even a tiny part of it.**

Ten

"Well, we've got to go and save it!"

For the first time, Pine was acknowledging Lilac's presence, but quite frankly, Chicory would have preferred the dark brown tomcat to have gone on ignoring her.

"Don't be mousebrained." Lilac calmly drew her tongue over her paw. "Why should we risk our lives for some kit - a kit that we don't even know?"

Pine growled his frustration. "Because it's in trouble, that's why!"

"Very strange noise it's making, too," Lilac commented, pricking her ears. "I wonder if all kittypet kits sound like that?"

Before Chicory could listen more carefully and see if Lilac was right, Pine swung around to face her. Barely suppressed annoyance marred his features, and Chicory forced herself not to flinch backwards. He wasn't going to vent on _her_, was he?

"Chicory? You'll come, right?"

Thank the moon and stars. He only wanted her support.

"Y-yeah, of course I will," the white she-cat mewed. Pine's expression softened slightly.

To Chicory's surprise, Lilac let out a purr of delight. "That's so _cute_!" she squealed. Confusion clouded Chicory's thoughts for a heartbeat before her sister went on; "You want to impress your little friend by becoming a hero and rescuing a kit!"

Dismay welled inside Chicory as she realised that the tortoiseshell she-cat meant Ivy. "That is one of the most _mousebrained_ things I have heard in my entire life, and I'm including that time last moon when Pine thought that squirrel was speaking to him."

Lilac continued to purr. "You're in denial. It's adorable."

Irritation pricked Chicory's pelt. "Shut _up_. You _know_ I'm not," she lashed out, her voice hard. She caught a glimpse of Lilac's mildly startled expression before she whipped around towards the source of the kit's wailing and stalked away from her sister.

Pine hurried after her. Chicory sensed his surprise.

"Whoa, Chic. You _never_ snap like that." He sounded half-admiring, half-wary.

Chicory sniffed huffily. It was true, she _didn't_ ever retort in that way... Lilac _had_ been being annoying, but normally the pale striped she-cat took it in her stride and didn't say anything back. What had caused that outburst? _If it could even be called that,_ Chicory thought wryly. _I barely said two sentences._

"So, who is it?" Pine's mew broke the silence.

"Who is what?"

"Oh, c'mon..." Chicory's brother's mew was teasing. "Just 'cause I'm a tom doesn't mean you can't talk to me about this stuff. Tell me."

All of a sudden, a hot flush of embarrassment and outrage swept over Chicory. _He's got to be joking._ "There isn't anyone!" she protested hotly. However, even as the words rose from her jaws and Pine stepped back quickly, fearful of another uncharacteristic flare-up, her mind seemed to whisper back a contradiction.

_It's the classic tale of a love-hate relationship._

The words came from Holly, a couple of moons previously, explaining to her kits how she and Windflower had met.

_I thought he was a little bit conceited - I can't say I was his biggest fan, although he had caught the eye of a few she-cats... It was only when I became pregnant with his kits - you three - that I began to see him in a different light._

Was Holly trying to say that Chicory would have to be expecting Ivy's _kits_ before she would see him as anything other than a spoiled brat who refused to leave her alone?

Expecting Ivy's kits.

_Ew._

###

The wailing had definitely increased in volume. Chicory realised that Lilac had been right in saying that it was strange - not as squealy as the other kits she had encountered, and - _can that really be classified as a mewl?_ the white she-cat wondered.

"I wonder why it's crying out?" Chicory's mew shook with nerves.

Pine cocked his head. "Perhaps it's just lost?" he suggested.

_Let's hope_, agreed Chicory silently. She didn't particularly want to have to deal with any spilled blood or unfriendly animals.

"I think it might be just past here..." muttered Pine, brushing past a couple of dew-covered ferns. "Hello? Hello? We've come to help..."

Chicory followed mutely a couple of pawsteps behind, not bold enough to shout out like Pine.

The wailing paused momentarily, shuddering as though to draw breath, and then started again.

"Hello? He-_llo_...? He- _whoa_." Pine stopped dead in front of Chicory.

Slightly afraid as to why he had halted, Chicory whispered, "Pine? What is it?"

"Um..." Pine eyes seemed drawn to the sight in front of him. "Well... You'd better come and see for yourself, Chicory."

A shiver went down Chicory's spine as she became acutely aware that the wailing had stopped. In its place was a quiet gurgling sound. She sidestepped Pine, her pelt brushing his, and followed his amber gaze.

Chicory's eyes widened to the size of moons.

"Um... wow," she squeaked minutely.

As she gazed, transfixed, at, it gurgled happily. It seemed to have calmed down, pleased by their presence. The striped she-cat tried not to take a pawstep back as it fixed large, pale eyes on her and clapped its pink, podgy paws.

"You do know what this is, don't you?" Pine nudged her.

Chicory blinked. "Oh, yes," she meowed faintly.

###

"What... in the name of the sun and the moon... is that?" Lilac's mew was steady, but held an undercurrent of hysteria. Her eyes were narrow with distaste, but Chicory could see that they were following the creature she and Pine had brought back.

"It's a kit," replied Pine evenly. Lilac's head snapped up to meet his gaze.

"I can see _that_," she meowed. "But it's not exactly of our _species_, is it?"

The Twoleg kit sat up on its strangely padded rear and allowed its arms fall to its sides, letting out a soft 'oooh' as a butterfly fluttered past.

"Well... no," Pine admitted. "But me and Chicory decided... that didn't matter. She still needed our help."

Lilac's ears flattened. "_She_?"

Chicory nodded. "You can smell that she's a she-Twoleg... at least, _I _could." She ducked her head.

A hiss escaped Lilac's jaws.

Getting the young Twoleg back Lilac was had been quite a task for Pine and Chicory. After ascertaining that there were no older Twolegs nearby and that the kit was, indeed, lost, convincing her to move at all took some effort.

Chicory had discovered that Twolegs kits moved on all fours, rather than on their hind paws, as the adults did. Personally, Chicory deemed this much more sensible. In fact, once the initial shock of being faced with a Twoleg kit had receded, Chicory learnt enough to decide that Twoleg kits were generally smarter than their fully-grown counterparts - and indeed, a lot less violent.

Meanwhile, Lilac was still spitting angrily.

"Just _wait_ 'til the others hear about this!" The way she said it made it sound like a threat. Briefly, Chicory wondered all the happiness that she was with her siblings had gone. The three of them together just seemed to cause endless arguments.

Tail fluffed up in her martyred rage, Lilac turned with a 'hmph!' and wriggled back underneath the fence that led back to Twolegplace.

As the Twoleg kit gurgled obliviously behind her, Chicory half-wished that she could call her sister back.

**Well, there it is! I defy anyone to have seen that coming. I wasn't too sure about how people would respond to this plot twist - do you love it, do you hate it? Let me know.**


	13. Eleven

**Thanks to Through Another's Eyes, Willowfur, and World of Make Believe for reviewing! I wrote this chapter on an aeroplane while I was half-asleep... Looked back over it later, and it was HORRIBLE. So I tried to improve it without altering the storyline terribly.**

**DISCLAIMER: I really, really don't own Warriors. Not even a tiny part of it.**

Eleven

Holly was glaring. "I _sincerely hope_, for _your_ sakes, that there is a simple explanation for why there is a _Twoleg_ among us."

Pine, apparently baffled at seeing Holly so animated, responded with a wide-eyed, "Um."

"What is it?" squeaked a young kit, prodding the Twoleg kit with an outstretched forepaw. In reply, the Twoleg kit turned, gave a gurgle of delight, and roughly patted the kit several times on the head. The kit gave a squeal of astonishment and ran to hide behind his mother.

Chicory responded to _her_ mother in a low voice in order to avoid all of the eyes, which were in any case distracted by the Twoleg kit. "She's lost her family. Me and Pine were kind of wondering... if..." -she was mumbling by now- "...if we could... help her find them."

A hiss came from somewhere behind Holly. Chicory peered behind her to see Lilac rapidly whispering into Beech's ear.

_She's loving this_, Chicory thought sourly. _Every heartbeat she has gossip to spread._

"But that's fluff-brained!" Beech exclaimed, jerking his head up. "We can't _possibly_ account for a _Twoleg_!" He spat the word.

"Hmm." To Chicory's annoyance, Heather didn't seem pleased with the idea either. "I'm not sure." Her eyes narrowed. "Have you considered finding food for this kit? My guess is that Twolegs don't eat mice and rabbits... And by the moon and sun I'm not giving up my share, even if they did."

Even Pine looked uncomfortable. "I don't know, Chic," he meowed out of the corner of his mouth. "I know there's nothing wrong with her, but... is it really worth it?"

Before Chicory could turn to her brother and argue the point, some cat yowled, "Get rid of it!"

Lilac repeated the words. "Get rid of it! Get rid of it!" she caterwauled, and before Chicory had time to even process that it was her own _sister_ yowling, it was a chant.

"Get rid of it! Get rid of it! Get rid of it! Get rid of it!"

The wailing sound started up again. The Twoleg kit apparently didn't like the yowling - she had begun to cry out, her face turning bright red with the strain and her eyes screwing up.

Chicory was in despair. It had all gone wrong - they were supposed to accept the Twoleg's differences and move on with the journey, not drive her out!

"We shall leave the kit here," decided Heather loudly to the general masses. "It will work out for the better."

But frustration with every cat, especially Pine, who was being so unhelpful, made Chicory bold.

"Do as you please." Her voice shook horribly, and she could only address Heather's paws. "But _I_'m staying with Chrysanthemum."

A pawstep behind her, Pine groaned and buried his head in his paws in shame. "Oh, Windflower, don't let her do this!" Chicory heard him mumble.

As for Heather, she was completely thrown. "...Chrysanthemum?"

"Um, yes." Chicory's mew had been reduced to a petrified squeal. "That's... what I'm calling her."

For a full twenty heartbeats, there was a stunned silence, save for Pine muttering ashamed prayers to the stars.

And then; "You're crazier than a fox in a fit!" cried Holly quite hysterically. "What do you mean by this? You can't stay with this... this thing-"

"Her name's Chrysanthemum," interrupted her white-furred daughter in a murmur too low for her to hear, wondering if Holly realised how hypocritical calling her 'crazier than a fox in a fit' was.

"-alone, with no-one to protect you! You'll die, you'll starve, you'll..."

"Come up with more stupid names?" suggested some cat dryly. "_Chrysanthemum_. Honestly. I feel for any kits you ever have."

Chicory ducked her head, and mumbled, "Chrysanthemums are beautiful flowers," with a glance at her own Chrysanthemum. The Twoleg kit had since stopped yelling, and the scarlet was receding blotchily from her face as she stared, red-eyed, at Chicory. The pale striped she-cat broke the eye contact quickly.

"Er... she won't be alone." A new voice spoke up. "I'm staying too. I'll stay with Chicory and Chrysenthenom-"

"-Chrysanthemum-"

"...Um, that. I'm going to stay."

Chicory had corrected the tom's voice automatically, but now she realised who was speaking.

_No..._ she cursed internally. _That's really, _really_ not supposed to happen!_

But she was too embarrassed to say anything, so she was forced to watch Ivy's mother fret and fuss, threaten and and cajole, in a typical mother-like way while her son reisisted all efforts and insisted on sticking by Chicory.

"How good am I, right?" whispered Ivy as he swaggered up to her, having finally been released from the clutches of his mother. "I just gave up _everything_ for you and that Chrysenther-what's-her-face. Now _that_ is _true_ dedication.

Too altogether depressed to argue, Chicory simply gritted her teeth and meowed, "Let's just shorten it to 'Chrys', right?"

"Gotcha." Ivy pressed himself against Chicory's flank and licked her ear.

_Okay. I may not have the energy to argue, but I have the energy to pull away from _that_._

Glancing around, Chicory saw that many cats were already getting ready to take their leave. Lilac was already trotting away, tail high in the air, as though she couldn't care less about leaving her flesh-and-blood brother behind, possibly forever.

Forever.

All at once, the enormity of what she was giving up hit Chicory. Her mother, her sister, her friends... Chicory's gaze lingered on Heather, who seemed to be contemplating her, head tilted to one side. But there was sadness in her eyes. Chicory wanted to go up to her, say something, but she held back. Heather's eyes said more than words ever could.

_Why am I doing this? _Chicory wondered. _Is it even worth it? Only a Twoleg kit... _But as she looked back over at Chrysanthemum, she knew that she could never abandon her. The pull of an almost _maternal_ instinct was too great.

It made no sense. Twolegs had flooded the loch. They were her greatest fear - but here she was giving up her family for one.

"Pine?" Chicory distracted herself by calling to her brother. "You coming with... us?" It took a great deal to wrench out the 'us' - she didn't like referring to herself and the tortoiseshell tom that way. She could almost taste Ivy's smugness.

"Hmm?" Pine blinked. "Oh... yeah, I guess so."

Chicory nodded. At least Pine would be there with her.

Without warning, a flash of fur careered into Chicory and pinned her to the floor with tortoiseshell paws.

"Holly?" Pine's mew was a gasp of guilt.

Chicory shrank into the ground as she realised that her mother's eyes were popping. "You are no longer my kits!" she snarled.

"Mother, no!" The words rose to Chicory's lips without her even realising it. She wanted nothing more than to struggle free and run away, but that might only make Holly even angrier. There seemed to be no stopping her when she got as furious as this.

"You have disgraced your father's memory by allying yourselves with what killed him! You have _disgraced_ me!" Despite her words being aimed at both Pine and Chicory, she was still glaring at only Chicory. As she said this, she backed away from Chicory, arched her back, and spat at both of her kits - or ex-kits. "You are _no longer my kits_!"

And with that, Holly turned and charged away through the darkening Twolegplace, her silhouette occasianally being thrown into sharp relief as she ran through the discs of light the miniature suns cast. A few cats, including Lilac and Heather, broke away and streaked after her, calling her name.

Their cries soon faded.

That was when Chicory broke down and howled in misery, not caring how loud she was or how many cats she disturbed.

There were no more words.


	14. Twelve

**Thanks to Through Another's Eyes for reviewing! Yes, I know, I am getting really bad with my updates. The worst thing is, I don't have any excuses -_-'**

**DISCLAIMER: Warriors is property of the Erins. Cue the little 'C' thing in a circle that means it's trademarked.**

Twelve

"Chicory..."

Chicory groaned and shuddered weakly. She didn't want to respond.

"Chicory..."

If she responded, she would remember. And with remembering came only pain.

"Come on, now, Chic..."

Who did that ridiculously persistant voice belong to? Only a couple of cats dared to call her 'Chic'...

"It's almost sunhigh, Chic, we have to get moving."

"Ugh, shut _up_, Ivy," moaned Chicory. It was all flooding back now, as hard as she tried to stopper it up, complete with a great pounding in her head.

"Well!" The tortoiseshell tom looked affronted. "I was only telling you that it would probably be a good idea to wake up, particularly as your brother's brought you some breakfast."

"Huh?" With a great effort, Chicory sat up, blinking in the bright sun. Sure enough, a mouse, warm and soft enough to have been recently killed, lay at her paws.

They were still in the same place they had been left last night, right on the brink of Twolegplace. Chicory's whole body was stiff from sleeping on hard Twoleg stuff all night, and her fur was ruffled and grimy thanks to the foul-smelling winds that the monsters on the Thunderpath swept up. Chicory wondered how Pine had even been able to find a mouse in these squalid conditions - she herself could smell no trace of prey-scent. Immediately, guilt swept her for oversleeping and wallowing in self-pity.

The white-furred she-cat bent down, even though the muscles in her neck objected, and demolished the mouse in several rapid bites.

"Where is he?" asked Chicory, after kicking the bones into a glossy-leaved bush. "And where's... where's Chrys?"

Ivy gave a shrug. "I suppose Pine went to catch something for himself," he meowed. "But I don't know where our little kit is."

Chicory didn't like the way he said _our little kit_ - it sounded far too much like the two of them were the mother and father of a litter of kits.

The words also caught her offguard, not to mention the nonchalence with which they were said. "What do you mean, you don't know?" she asked, her voice climbing several octaves as her heartbeat quickened.

"For the stars' sake, calm down!" Ivy's mew was quite alarmed. "Look, we can go and look for him if you want. I hate to see my Chicory upset like this."

Chicory grunted with embarrassment. "Chrys is a she-Twoleg," she muttered, not wanting to admit that she appreciated Ivy's offer considerably.

###

"Chrys!" yowled Ivy loudly.

"_Shhh_!" Chicory hushed him. "Not so loud. You'll bring all the Twolegs out here with your yowling." Her blue eyes darted left and right nervously. "Besides, Chrys doesn't speak our language."

Ivy fell silent. "Twolegs are mousebrained," he muttered. "_I_ think we should listen for her wailing."

Chicory didn't answer, but instead stopped short and pricked her ears. She strained her hearing to beyond the _whoosh_ of monsters on the Thunderpath, and beyond the rowdy chatter and heavy footfalls of Twolegs milling around out of sight. The fur on the back of her neck fluffed up as she heard the wail of a Twoleg kit, but it wasn't Chrysanthemum.

"Hear anything?" Ivy's low mew broke Chicory's concentration. The white she-cat shook her head silently, kneading her paws on the hard ground.

"Nothing." She sighed quietly. "And who knows where Pine is, either?"

She almost jumped out of her fur when Ivy's tail ran down her spine, trying to soothe her.

"I'm going to find them for you, Chic," he mewed softly. "I promise it on the moon and the stars and my sister's life."

Chicory gazed at him wonderingly, shyly, confused. Blue eyes met amber for a heartbeat before Ivy tossed his head arrogantly and dashed away, further up the side of the Thunderpath.

The palely-striped she-cat gave herself a moment to gather herself up before setting off after him.

Oh, he was going to get cocky now. It was the first time she hadn't pulled away.

###

Pine could only find one word for the situation he found himself in - awkward. What had he been thinking, running off to talk with his sister's beloved little Twoleg kit? _It's not even like the thing can understand me, _the brown tom thought ruefully. But maybe there was something about the kit's gurgling, carefree nature that reminded him that he was growing up far too quickly.

"I'm only nine moons old!" he whispered pathetically to Chrysanthemum as he led the little Twoleg around the outskirts of another Twoleg nest. "I shouldn't have to betray either my sister or my mother!" _And my father's memory_, he added silently.

For the truth of it was, Pine felt terribly guilty for abandoning Holly for the sake of this kit. He had desperately wanted to run back to Holly and all of the cats he had known his whole life, but he was afraid - afraid of hurting his timid sister. He had always been the one to protect her - how could that change? If only Chicory would have agreed to abandon Chrysanthemum!

And so he had decided that the thing keeping Chicory here must go. Chrysanthemum must die, he reasoned, and then surely Chicory would agree to return to the group of loch cats.

But as Pine sat there on the outskirts of Twolegplace, grappling with his conscience and trying to persuade himself to do the deed, the situation had just turned awkward. He had begun to feel extremely silly.

"Oh, for the stars' sake..." Pine muttered to himself. Chrysanthemum's pale eyes gazed blankly back at him. "I don't want to do this!" _But what choice do I have?_

For what seemed to be hundreth time, he steeled himself and unsheathed his claws. _Here it goes_. But at the very last heartbeat, when he was a hairsbreadth away from slashing that plump face, something held him back.

Pine cursed under his breath and screwed up his eyes. _Mousebrain. Mousebrain. Mousebrain._

He didn't open his eyes when Chrysanthemum's wail sliced the still air. Let her cry. She was always crying.

But when heavy steps, too heavy to belong to a cat, reached his ears, suspicion began forming in his mind. If only Chrysanthemum would stop yowling, then maybe he'd be able to _think_-

Screwing up his eyes still tighter was a mistake, as Pine found out not two heartbeats after performing this action. Only when Twoleg cries of sympathy and shock could be heard right above him did he open his eyes - but by then it was clearly already too late.

Several Twolegs had emerged out of the nest nearest to them, and despite the fact that Pine and Chrysanthemum were half-hidden in an ancient, scrubby bush, the two of them had obviously already been spotted.

Chrysanthemum was already in one of the older Twolegs' grasp, cradled in some way between its front legs and paws. She was still red with wailing, but it was less of a wail now, more an upset-sounding hiccup.

Before Pine could register more than 'Twolegs - bad - escape needed', another Twoleg had scooped him up and was firmly holding him by the scruff.

Paws flailing in every direction, Pine felt panic bubbling inside him as the Twolegs started to carry them towards their nest.

_Help me, Windflower!_ the brown tom thought desperately. _Help me, _anyone_!_


	15. Thirteen

**Thanks to Through Another's Eyes for reviewing, again! Thank everything, this update was earlier than some of my previous ones. Maybe I'm getting better at this again :3 And here, as I'm sure will make all of you happy (all of you with a soul, anyway) we have a Snapdragon chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: Um, do you _really_ think that?**

Thirteen

The worst thing was, it was just far too tempting to jump up and make a reckless snatch at Marigold's tail.

Snapdragon's paws twitched restlessly as his mother's tail flicked the ground. Summoning all the self-control he could muster, the ginger-furred kit tucked his paws under his belly and looked away.

It was moonhigh. The only shelter Heather had been able to find that night was a rocky overhang that barely counted as a cave in the middle of the blustery moor. In the moon's weak light, Snapdragon could make out the dark shapes of clouds scurrying across the sky.

The night wasn't warm, and many cats were huddling together. For himself, Snapdragon was trying as best he could to snuggle into Marigold's grey fur, turning over every other heartbeat so that each side of him had a chance to feel warm. When he turned onto his right side - facing _away_ from Marigold's tail - he could still see the bright lights of Twolegplace winking in the distance.

They reminded him of Chicory, and her bold insistence to stay behind. Snapdragon still shuddered when he remembered Holly saying what she had... Since then, Holly's only remaining daughter, Lilac, stayed with her constantly, snarling if anyone approached. Not that Snapdragon wanted to - Holly's wild eyes and ruffled fur unnerved him.

The wind sliced through Snapdragon's kit-soft fur, whistling enough to hide his sigh. He still missed Chicory, even though he knew better now than to voice this to Marigold and Foxglove. His parents only murmured vague consolations than told him they didn't really understand.

What was more, Snapdragon thought that Ivy - who was renowned for being sickly and frail in any case - was a poor guard. True, Chicory had her brother, Pine, but he hadn't looked very pleased to be going.

_I could do better than all of them!_ Snapdragon boasted internally. _I'd protect Chicory from foxes and badgers and Twolegs, and... and monsters!_

Immersed in his dreams of accompanying Chicory on what he envisioned as her great quest, Snapdragon closed his eyes and curled his tail around his nose. He had just about drifted off when a striking thought brought him abruptly back to consciousness.

_Why shouldn't I?_

Now he thought about it, he couldn't see any reason why he shouldn't go back and join Chicory. After all, the journey across the moor had only taken a day, and if he ran it, it couldn't be all that bad. He would find Chicory, help her deliver the Twoleg kit with the funny name, and then all of them could come back to their families.

Sleepiness gone, Snapdragon jumped up, careful not to disturb his mother, and tiptoed away from the group of sleeping cats. When he was sure he was out of earshot, he started to sprint towards Twolegplace, buzzing with excitement.

To a young kit, Snapdragon's plan had no flaws in it whatsoever.

###

Twolegplace, as it turned out, was further away that it appeared.

Snapdragon had to stop running after long, and had collapsed into a dramatic ginger heap on the ground to get his breath back. After this, he had decided that 'walking fast' was a suitable alternative to running, but just before dawn, his eyes began to grow weary.

Firmly, Snapdragon tried to keep open his closing lids by thinking of what he could do when he found Chicory, but to no avail. In the end, defeated, he crawled under a low-hanging tree and gave in to sleep.

When he awoke, it was sunhigh. It quite alarmed him that he had lost so much time, so he sprang to his paws and set off at once.

He had stopped at a couple of streams the day before to quench his thirst, but now another physical need was overtaking Snapdragon's small body - hunger.

The worst of it was that he wasn't sure how to hunt at all - _but it can't be that hard, right?_ he reasoned.

When his belly started to growl loudly in protest, Snapdragon made his mind up to take a break and attempt to catch something. Tasting the air, he caught a familiar scent - rabbit - and immediately started towards the source.

It didn't take Snapdragon long at all to stumble upon the carcass of the rabbit - clearly dead, freshly killed, but barely touched save for a long, ragged wound down its side.

"Oh, thank you, every star in the sky!" mewed Snapdragon aloud out of sheer delight. This meal was obviously a sign that he was doing the right thing - it had to be.

Without another thought, the young tom raced towards the prey and tore a strip of flesh off the bones, fluffy tail sticking straight up in the air.

He had almost polished off the whole rabbit when a low growl made his ears prick up. _What was that?_ He could have sworn he hadn't imagined it... Slowly, Snapdragon raised his muzzle, licking scraps from his whiskers, and listened intently.

There it was again. Snapdragon's heart began to thud in his chest as he realised it was close, very close.

_Use your nose! If there's danger, scent it!_ Despite the sudden ringing in his ears, the ginger cat's memory managed to produce a valuable sliver of information, given to him previously by Foxglove.

The smell didn't calm him in the slightest - a rotting, choking stench not unlike the monsters in Twolegplace. An unpleasant jolt in the region of his belly reminded Snapdragon that this scent had also lingered on the fur of the animal he had just eaten, but he had only noticed the smell of food in his hunger.

For fear of freezing in terror, Snapdragon didn't look around. Instead, he placed all his faith in his instinct and tore away as quickly as his stubby legs could carry him, fear-scent leaving a clearly marked trail.

He imagined the evil-scented creature following, snapping at his heels, its breath hot and greedy for revenge._ I'm sorry!_ Snapdragon wanted to wail. _I didn't know it was yours!_

So blinded by his fright, Snapdragon didn't see when his paws stepped off grass and onto hard Twoleg stuff - he only felt the surface he was running on suddenly turn firmer, scraping his pads.

This could only mean one thing. He had reached Twolegplace! Glee marred Snapdragon's fear, making him forget about his pursuer and stop.

He was only allowed a moment's elation before a snarl ripped from jaws close behind him. Unthinking, he whipped around, only to come face-to-face with a sandy-furred, bushy-tailed creature, its tawny eyes narrowed in fury.


	16. Fourteen

**Thanks to WildCroconaw for reviewing!**

**DISCLAIMER: Yet again... I do NOT own Warriors.**

Fourteen

It was when Chicory and Ivy were close to giving up when Ivy halted, nose quivering.

Before Chicory had a chance to ask what was wrong, Ivy had spat, "_Foxdung_!" and sprinted off, weaving in and out of the Twoleg nests.

"Wait!" Chicory screeched, and rushed after him before he disappeared out of sight. Even if he had, Chicory knew that she would still be able to find him - a trail of fear-scent marked clearly where he had been.

It wasn't a far run - Chicory only had a few heartbeats of fear for what could be going on before she turned the corner of yet another Twoleg nest and almost careered into Ivy.

The scene before the white she-cat took a few heartbeats to register - a tiny ginger kit, cringing on the ground, a sandy-furred fox bearing down on it, and Ivy crouching, ready to spring.

The fox clearly hadn't noticed them yet - it was too intent on the kit, who let out a whimper.

Chicory gasped. She recognised the kit. But it was ridiculous, impossible - he had left with all the other cats!

"Snapdragon!" she shrieked, throwing herself at him without thinking.

"Chicory, don't!" Ivy thundered, but Chicory only saw Snapdragon's tiny face light up with hope, and she only thought of protecting the young kit.

The palely striped she-cat hadn't thought of the fox. A guttural snarl ripped from behind her, and Snapdragon's tail bushed out in fear.

"Chicory, help me!" he squeaked, every syllable laced with terror.

Unthinking, Chicory whirled around to come face-to-face with a pair of fierce eyes. Fright made her mind sluggish for a heartbeat, before an urge to protect Snapdragon overwhelmed her. Without even realising it, she had arched her back and hissed at the animal.

Startled at her sudden display of aggression, the fox paused, confused - but a heartbeat's pause was all a waiting Ivy needed.

Hurtling out of nowhere, the tortoiseshell tom leapt onto the fox and sunk his claws into matted fur with a fearsome howl.

Realising she would be more use on the defensive, Chicory planted each of her four paws firmly on the hard ground, narrowed her eyes, and prepared to act as a shield to Snapdragon if the warring pair came too close.

A Twoleg shout behind then made both Chicory and Snapdragon jump. Chicory could feel Snapdragon's dismay - a Twoleg intervention was the last thing they wanted.

"Let's get out of the way," whispered the she-cat, motioning with her tail towards the Thunderpath. Snapdragon nodded his wide-eyed agreement and the pair hurried away from the fighting.

Just in time - a crash sounded behind them, a strange, tinkling crash as the Twoleg hurled something at them.

Snapdragon collapsed near the edge of the Thunderpath, breathing heavily. Despite the young tom's exhaustion, Chicory wasn't about to let him go without a questioning.

"How did you get here, Snapdragon? Are the others here? Did they come back? Do they need help?" Questions tumbled from Chicory's tongue, her face drawn and anxious for Snapdragon's answers as he gulped breaths of less-than-clean air.

Finally, he shook his head. "I ran away to find you, Chicory," he murmured, managing to sound rather pleased with himself.

"_What_?" Chicory gaped in disbelief.

"I thought you might need some help," insisted Snapdragon. "So I snuck away, and I got chased by that thing-" his mew shook, "-but now I've found you, and you can come home." He shut his eyes with a sigh of contentment.

His kit-like attitude, the belief that everything could be resolved so neatly and simply, along with the fact that Snapdragon had risked his life - and very nearly sacrificed it - to find her, made Chicory want to wail with the impossibility of it all.

"It's not that easy, Snapdragon," she began carefully, but before she could even shape the next words in her mind, a skittering of paws announced Ivy's return.

"I gave that fox a couple of nasty scratches," the tortoiseshell cat boasted before he had even slowed to a halt. "He won't forget _me_ in a hurry." His gleeful expression faded slightly as he caught sight of Chicory's tail curled protectively around Snapdragon. "Who's this?"

Chicory wasn't delighted with the aggressive edge to his mew, but decided to ignore it. "This is Snapdragon," she replied, and as she did she saw a shadow of jealousy pass over Ivy's features.

"Hmm..." His mew was a low grumble in his throat. "You're the cat who got into trouble with that fox, am I right?"

Snapdragon nodded mutely. Chicory was reminded forcibly of herself when meeting other cats.

"He's coming with us to find Chrys and Pine," Chicory meowed, on a whim.

This revelation threw Ivy off-guard. "But... but Chic!" he whined, reverting back to kit-like and begging behaviour. "He'll slow us down!"

Snapdragon, on the other paw, was over the moon. "Really?" he gasped excitedly, his plumy tail sticking straight up. "Really and truly?"

Chicory nodded, much to Ivy's evident displeasure.

"Chico_ry_...!"

###

When Pine was finally spotted, Chicory almost missed it.

"Come here, quick!" Ivy, whose complaints about Snapdragon had since simmered down into incoherent grumbles, yowled from the side of the Thunderpath.

"What?" A monster rushing past had temporarily deafened Chicory, and she had missed what Ivy had said.

"Come _here_!" bellowed Ivy frantically. "In this Twoleg monster - it's Pine, I could have sworn it!"

Pursued by Snapdragon, Chicory rushed over to where Ivy was, but the monster was too quick.

"It's gone," mewed Ivy, crestfallen. "It's way over there, see? The red one."

When she squinted, Chicory could make out the shape of a monster in the distance, stained a stinging shade of crimson.

"Can we follow it?" asked Snapdragon hopefully.

"Don't be mousebrained, it's too fast," Ivy snapped back patronisingly. Snapdragon fell silent.

Chicory was too overcome by a crushing disappointment to register the biting exchange. The glimpse of her brother had been so brief it was painful. "Where do you reckon it's going?" she asked dully.

The voice that replied belonged to neither of her companions. "Excuse me...? I beg your pardon, but I would hazard a guess that that housefolk machine is headed for an animal shelter."

Raising her head, Chicory saw that the speaker was a tubby brown tabby, perched precariously on the fence of a Twoleg nest.

"Animal shelter? What's that?" asked Ivy, stepping forward and tipping his head to one side.

"It's a place where they take stray cats. Cats who don't belong to any housefolk," the tabby she-cat continued, "are considered a nuisance. Housefolk take them away and lock them up."

Chicory wanted to exclaim, _That's horrible!_ but the usual speech incapacity had overtaken her.

"Where's this 'animal shelter'?" Ivy demanded to know. The kittypet's eyes grew round.

"Oh, it's not far from here, but you wouldn't want to _go_ there," she mewed hastily. "I've heard cats never get away."

"Tough," was Ivy's short reply. "It's her brother they've taken." He motioned towards Chicory, and then made a swish with his tail in the direction the monster had taken. "Just this way, yeah?"

The tabby still looked doubtful. "I suppose."

"Great." Ivy looked pleased. "Come on, Chic."

"I'm here too!" Snapdragon piped up, annoyed, as he hurried after Ivy. The tortoiseshell tom was already striding off.

Chicory blinked gratefully at the brown tabby. "I'm Chicory," she managed to say. "What's your name?"

Looking surprised, the she-cat mewed, "Me? Oh, I... never really had one, to be honest."

_Never had one?_ "Well, you gave us a chance," mumbled Chicory bashfully, "so that's what I'm going to call you. Chance."


	17. Fifteen

**Well, no one reviewed... Oh well, I'm updating so infrequently it's unsurprising people are losing interest. Here's chapter fifteen... **

**DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own Warriors, times 2357034670234**

Fifteen

"Let's go!" mewed Snapdragon, with what Ivy quite blatantly thought was wholly unnecessary pep. "We - can - do - this! We - can - do - this!"

He turned it into a chant. Clearly Chance's appearance and news had buoyed his young spirits up considerably. Chicory hoped that Ivy wouldn't make some cutting mark to squash them. She was fond of Snapdragon, but also, grudgingly, of Ivy, and she disliked the fact that Ivy seemed to be constantly at the kit's throat.

Thankfully, Ivy said nothing, and Snapdragon's chant was the only sound they made as they padded along the edge of the Thunderpath.

###

One thing was clear - this was certainly the animal shelter. Chicory could hear the wordless yips and yowls of trapped animals from somewhere behind the shiny, flashy Twoleg front, complete with an adult Twoleg sitting against an opening to another part of the nest.

None of the three young cats particularly wanted to step inside a real Twoleg nest, but they had little choice in the matter - they knew Pine was in there, and different as they were, not one of them would have neglected a cat in trouble.

"How are we going to get the Twoleg to move?" Ivy's hiss ruffled Chicory's ear fur. She turned to him with a troubled expression.

"I-I'm not sure," she admitted. Surely that opening led to where Pine was captured, so it was vital that they gained access... but how?

Unaffected by this small obstacle, Snapdragon bounced up and down excitedly.

"Are we going in there, Chicory? Is Pine in there? Will we see him soon?"

Chicory nodded calmly, deflecting his questions as best she could. "As soon as we figure out how to get past this Twoleg-"

But Snapdragon didn't hear any more. "I can do it, Chicory, really!" he meowed, and, quick as a hare, he left Chicory's side and darted close to the Twoleg.

Now Chicory looked more closely at the Twoleg, she saw that it was dozing, head nodding and eyes closed, but that didn't make it a lot less dangerous, in her opinion.

"Snapdragon!" she whispered fiercely, but the little tomcat ignored her. He attempted to squeeze past the space between the Twoleg and the gap in the nest, but halfway through, he stopped. The ginger kit wriggled. And then he let out a thin wail.

"I'm stuck!"

Chicory stopped breathing. "_Shh_!" she urged. Turning to Ivy, she mewed, "Come on!"

Reluctant, but evidently realising Chicory wouldn't take no for an answer, Ivy followed Chicory into the nest. Their claws made skittering sounds on the noticeably cold ground. Though soft, the _tap-tap-tap_ of her claws still put Chicory on edge.

"Chicory, I'm _stuck_!"

"Be _quiet_!" hissed Chicory as loudly as she dared through gritted teeth. "I'm coming."

Snapdragon's tail was bushed out. He whimpered and kicked his back legs limply.

"Look, you're not _dying_," whispered Ivy fiercely. "As long as you_ shut up_, we'll be able to get you out."

"But-"

"_Shhh_!" Chicory and Ivy shushed him in synchronisation. The white she-cat cast a worried glance up at the slumbering Twoleg. It still appeared deep in sleep, but they couldn't take any chances.

"Can you move at all?" she asked.

The ginger tom-kit wriggled his back end vigourously. "I can do that," he squeaked in a half-whisper.

An irritated sigh came from Ivy. "'Cause that's really going to help," he muttered. "Okay, Snapdragon, this is going to hurt, so get ready."

Chicory whipped around, alarmed. "Wait, what are you going to-"

"_Ow_!" screeched Snapdragon piercingly as Ivy's claws connected with one of his back legs. The ginger kit shot out of the gap he was trapped in and tumbled into the blackness past the gap in the nest. Chicory heard a number of dull thuds. That was enough for her.

"_Snapdragon_!" she shrieked, preparing to bolt into the unknown, but Ivy stopped her.

"Wait!" he cried. "You don't know what's past there, it might be a drop!"

Chicory opened her jaws to argue that Snapdragon was there, but a gruff voice above her head that she didn't understand the language of made her blood freeze in her veins.

The Twoleg was awake.

"Run, Chicory!" Ivy urged her, voice breaking with hysteria. Chicory couldn't move. "Chic, come on!" He nudged her flank with his nose, trying to encourage her, but she couldn't respond.

As a huge, hairless paw came down near her, Chicory started to hyperventilate. When it touched her fur, that was too much.

Chicory crumpled on the ground.

###

When Chicory came to, her first thought was that she had never been more uncomfortable in her life. Her limbs ached, including her tail, which felt as though it had been ripped off and then wedged back on at a skewed angle. Her paws were numb from crouching in this small, wiry thing that she seemed to have been captured in. She barely had room to turn around. To top it all off, there was an overwhelming stench of dog surrounding her.

"What's going on?" Her mew came out as a croak, as though she had not used it in many days.

She did not expect a response, and almost jumped out of her fur when a familiar voice answered her. "You've been caught too, Chicory. We're in the animal shelter."

Chicory twisted her head around so quickly she felt a crick in her neck, trying to adjust her eyes to the gloom as so to see with her own eyes what she had thought impossible. "Pine?"

"It's me," answered her brother simply.

"Oh, Pine, I thought you were dead!"

"I thought you were too. When they brought you in here so still..." Pine trailed off. "But Ivy and Snapdragon told me. Thank the stars. You're alive."

"Ivy and Snapdragon?" Chicory's heart sank into her paws. "Are they here, too?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe the fuss that Twoleg made!" Half humourous, half dryly sarcastic, Ivy's voice joined them. "I was wondering when you planned to wake up."

Blinking anxiously, Chicory asked, "How long have I been out for?"

"Three days. Me and Pine have been talking in that time, and there doesn't seem to be any way out of here. Contrary to what Snapdragon thinks. He's getting on my nerves," Ivy added darkly. "Thank goodness he's asleep now."

It was not the time now to rebuke Ivy for criticising Snapdragon, Chicory decided. "And... what about Chrys? Is she here too?"

A wry purr came from somewhere in Pine's direction. "You really think that Twolegs would keep their own kind in this condition? Chrysanthemum is receiving much better treatment. As far as I know, she's still living with the Twolegs that brought me here."

Worry gnawed at Chicory's belly. _Why would Twolegs do this to us?_ An image of Holly, cursing at her for 'allying' herself with Twolegs, came into Chicory's mind. _If only she could see me now... Oh, the irony._

"Maybe she was right," Chicory murmured to herself, her tone too hushed for Ivy or Pine to hear her. "Perhaps Twolegs really are... evil."


	18. Sixteen

**No reviews again T.T I do kind of like them, you know! I've just checked my story traffic, and the last two chapters (you know, the ones with no reviews) have had a total of twenty visitors. And no reviews. Can you do no better? ? ? ? ? (wholly unnecessary use of question marks) Anyhow, say hello to chapter sixteen.**

**DISCLAIMER: Warriors is property of the Erins. The geniuses. =grumbles=**

Sixteen

It was when Chicory was in a fitful doze later the same day - at least, she thought it was the same day - that the opening to the nest she was trapped in swung wide open, hitting the wall with a rather loud _bang_.

Startled, Chicory tried to sit up straight and promptly smacked the back of her head into the hard mesh above her. "Ouch," she muttered.

Light had spilled into the nest when the piece of wall had flown open. Screwing up her eyes at the sudden brightness, Chicory could just make out the silhouette of a young Twoleg, around whose back paws skulked-

"You're the cat who told us to come here!" Ivy mewed, almost accusingly. The brown tabby looked up at him with large eyes.

"You didn't come back. I was worried."

"So you brought your Twoleg here to gloat?" Ivy's tone was scathing.

"No!" mewed Chance, deeply shocked.

"What's going on?" Snapdragon's high-pitched mew joined the fray.

All the while, Chance's Twoleg stood in the rectangle of light, front paws clasped behind her back as she shifted from back paw to back paw awkwardly. She was large in cat terms but from the Twolegs Chicory had seen, she deduced that this Twoleg was of the smaller variety.

"What do you want us to do?" Pine called.

Chance's head swivelled in his direction. "My Twoleg has the _keys_," she mewed proudly. "She can free you!"

Chicory surveyed Chance's Twoleg again. With her long, well-groomed brown head-fur and her open, innocent eyes, she certainly didn't _look_ particularly bad, but... could they afford to take any chances?

_You trust Chrys._

"Let's go for it."

All it took from Chance was a fretful mew and a paw at one of the mesh cages to get the Twoleg to do her bidding.

"You certainly have it well trained." Ivy sounded grudgingly impressed as the Twoleg set about fiddling with the so-called 'keys' and the catch of Snapdragon's cage.

"It's simple if you know what you're doing," responded Chance loftily. She clearly hadn't forgotten the tortoiseshell tom's earlier remarks.

With a click, Snapdragon's freedom was granted. Squealing, the ginger tom dashed out and started capering excitedly around the room.

"Stop that!" Chicory hissed frantically. "Do you want that big Twoleg to come and find us?"

As Snapdragon fell silent and Chance's Twoleg started to work on Pine's cage, Chicory idly marvelled at how they all seemed to heed her at her word, even though she was the most timid of the lot and couldn't say a word in front of a crowd.

_But am I so timid now?_ After all, when she had decided to trust Chance's young Twoleg, she hadn't even stammered. _But the only thing in my mind then was how to escape so we can get to Chrys..._

_Click._ With another sharp little sound, Pine also sprang free.

"Oh, thank the stars!" he purred, padding out. His eyes shone as he looked at Chance. "Thank you!"

The tabby's whiskers twitched. "Y-you're welcome," she whispered, delicately embarrassed.

Now it was Chicory's turn to be freed. It was a little unnerving having a Twoleg face so close to hers, but not frightening. Chicory felt surprisingly relaxed, although itching to be released.

_Click_. The Twoleg looked up, its mouth turning up at the corners and a warm expression in its dark eyes. As the catch swung loose, Chicory knew that the Twoleg had felt the brief connection too.

Chance's Twoleg was perfectly _good_.

_You were wrong, Holly. Not all Twolegs are evil. _Chicory's whiskers trembled with amusement as Ivy drummed his paws impatiently. When the _click_ finally came, the tomcat leapt out as though he had been stung with a cry of, "At last!" _Some of them are quite nice, actually._

"Which way is out?" asked Chicory. Ivy purred indulgently and sidled up to her.

"Silly Chicory. The way we came in, of course."

Chicory dropped her head a fraction of a mouselength in embarrassment. "I was unconscious, though, remember?"

"And there's that bigger Twoleg that trapped us..." added Snapdragon, his brow creasing with worry.

Pine nudged him. "It'll be fine, Snap, don't worry." Three days with only Ivy and Snapdragon as company had obviously brought him closer to the younger tom than he cared to admit.

"We'll have to be careful..." Chance meowed. "But let's go quickly. It's creepy in here with just these empty cages." She shuddered.

The rest agreed, so the multi-species party swiftly headed out of the gap in the wall, led by Chance and her Twoleg - into another nest full of cages.

"There are _more_?" Chicory gasped quietly, averting her eyes from the haunted ones of the scrawny cats holed up here.

"We have to save them, too!" protested Snapdragon, his mew shrill.

Chicory was about to agree, before she remembered Chrys. "There isn't time."

The young ginger tom gave her such a disbelieving stare that Chicory had to look away.

"Chicory's right," agreed Ivy helpfully. "We need to keep moving."

The pale striped she-cat gave him a grateful glance for the support, and her brother contributed a mutter of assent, so they hurried through the nest of silent, almost lifeless creatures, Snapdragon now lagging along behind.

"Really, Chicory?" Hearing the terrifyingly dark murmur behind her, Chicory twisted her head around, but Snapdragon seemed mute, his eyes holding no light.

A thrill of foreboding gripped Chicory, but she pressed on, trying to dismiss it as nothing.

###

"What _is_ that Twoleg doing?" asked Ivy, crouching low as Chance and her Twoleg stood near the exit of the entire nest itself, apparently deep in conversation. Their salvation was within touching distance.

"Isn't it obvious?" Pine whispered back. "They're creating a diversion. With any luck, we'll be able to slip past, right?"

"Oh. Right."

"We'd better do it in two rounds..." Chicory mused. "Um... Pine, you can go with Ivy, and I'll stick with Snapdragon."

"No, I want to go with you." Ivy disagreed.

Tutting, Pine mewed, "Fine, _I'll_ go with Snapdragon." There was a moment's pause. "Er... where _is_ Snapdragon?"

For the sake of all their fur, Chicory managed to swallow down her shriek, but it was a close thing. "What? How long has he been gone?"

"I'm not sure," admitted Pine. "I just noticed. Oh, dear, do you suppose he's been gone very long?"

"Who cares?" Ivy threw in. He, at least, seemed to be enjoying Snapdragon's absence.

Chicory was about to round on him when a terrible thought struck her. "You don't think he's gone back to try and set all those cats free, do you?"

Pine looked horrified. That was enough for Chicory.

"I'm going back," she meowed suddenly.

"_What_? Don't be mousebrained!" exclaimed Ivy, tail twitching erratically.

"We can't _leave_ him, can we?"

"Why not?"

Chicory met his eyes steadily. "Caring for another cat is something I can't teach you, I'm afraid, Ivy."

**Aah, this chapter was fairly long! For me. I was going to make it longer, but I decided to cut it into the next chapter. So, officially (I have the plot all figured out, aren't you proud?) there are four more chapters left of _Torrent_. Chapter twenty will be where it all ends :')**


	19. Seventeen

**This is chapter seventeen! Or, alternately, chapter fourth-from-last!**

**DISCLAIMER: Warriors... is... um... mine? =is shot= ...Alright, so I _don't_ own Warriors. Happy?**

Seventeen

Alarmed cries - cries of Ivy and Pine - rang in Chicory's ears as she turned back and plunged into the darkness, fighting against all her instincts. Guilt overrode them. Strangely, she felt she had to rescue Snapdragon to feel whole again... Or perhaps it was not so strange. After all, Chicory had already come to terms with the fact that she felt a motherly protection towards Snapdragon, much like she did towards Chrysanthemum.

It was odd that she should feel so motherly at the tender age of eight moons. What about her other companions? she wondered. Pine? No, no, she was certain that she felt as a sister, not a mother, to Pine. And Ivy? Certainly, she did not think of him as her kit, but... what, then?

She was prevented from pondering this any longer, however, as she reached the den of scrawny cats. A smudge of bright ginger against the gloom, Snapdragon had his jaws wrapped around a strand of one of the cages, and was obviously trying to tug it loose. The cat trapped in the cage didn't seem at all grateful - his eyes were bulging as though the moon had alighted on his head.

_Aargh, it's useless!_ Chicory felt like howling. She wanted to grab Snapdragon by the scruff so that they could leave, but she had seen a determined glint in his eye. Next to nothing could deter him from this.

All the same, Chicory was still going to try.

"Come back, Snapdragon!" the white she-cat caterwauled desperately. "Don't you want to _leave_?"

Snapdragon released the cage - his efforts had yielded no results - and turned to Chicory.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he spat, looking hurt and a little betrayed.

"I-" Chicory was bewildered.

"It doesn't matter!" shot back Snapdragon before she could form a single word. "I know you don't care about anything that happens to these cats, but I do!"

"Snapdragon-"

"I don't like you anymore, Chicory!" Time seemed to freeze as Snapdragon choked these words out, paws wide apart and fur bristling. Chicory was silent as she digested the force of what Snapdragon had uttered.

Luckily, as it saved either of them from having to say anything else, three sets of pawsteps drummed on the ground somewhere to their right; two sets light, one set heavy.

Two lithe, nimble cat bodies flew down the short flight of stairs. Chicory scented them before she saw them - Ivy and Pine. But what of the Twoleg? Surely-

A thunderous growl of rage reached Chicory's ears just before the hulking shape of the Twoleg appeared.

"Chicory, hide me!" Ivy dashed to Chicory's side and lay for a heartbeat, trembling, in her silhouette, before seeming to remember himself and getting up again, somewhat abashed.

"Are you okay?" Chicory gasped, glancing at Pine. "What happened?"

"Later," panted Pine. A bloody scratch ran down his left cheek.

Chicory was on the verge of expressing further concern when the Twoleg made a lunge for Snapdragon in her peripheral vision.

"Snapdragon!" she shrieked.

Pine had noticed, too. "_Move_!" he yowled, barrelling into Snapdragon just as the Twoleg's paw curled into a fist. The dark brown tomcat raised his own forepaw and delivered a glancing blow to the Twoleg's. "Snap, get out of here!"

"Not until-" Snapdragon began fiercely, but Pine was now involved in dodging badly-aimed grabs from the Twoleg and was no longer listening.

Crashes of metal on a stone floor distracted Chicory. She whipped around - Ivy had wriggled behind the masses of shiny meshing and was now forcing the cages to the ground.

Chaos reigned - amongst the _bang, bang, bang _as cages toppled over and hit the ground, locks breaking, terrified cats wailing and scrambling to escape, the Twoleg bellowing wildly, and Pine's occasional snarls, Chicory could barely hear herself think. _Ivy's done it,_ she managed, _Ivy's freeing them._

"Get them!" Ivy screamed from some higher vantage point, pushing out strongly with his back legs and sending yet another cage flying. Chicory registered that the tortoiseshell tom was yelling at her and hastened to obey, headbutting cages off mildly wounded and weak cats. With some annoyance, she noticed that not one of them mewed a word of thanks, simply making for the exit.

With Pine, and now Snapdragon attacking him - Chicory would have worried about the recklessness of it in other circumstances - the Twoleg was pretty much helpless. A roar erupted from his throat as he tried, and failed, to swat Snapdragon away.

Failed, because Chicory had taken the tomcat by the scruff, and, like Ivy and Pine, was now running.

###

Cats were still streaming out of the Twoleg nest in a river of black, white, orange, and fawn fur when Chicory, Pine, Ivy, and Snapdragon reached the outside.

However, the four of them - or, in truth, three, as Chicory was still grimly gripping Snapdragon - dared not stop until even the scents of the place were a memory.

There, in the dirty grass beside a Thunderpath, they collapsed, hearts thudding and legs weak.

After a while; "I'm sorry, Chicory," meowed Snapdragon, meekly, not meeting her eyes.

There was a moment of silence. Chicory mulled this apology over, noticing with a twinge that his left ear was matted with dark blood. There was so much she wanted to reply, scathing, frosty, and harsh, but Snapdragon was only a kit...

In the end, all she said was, in a whispery mew, "You're such a drama queen, Snapdragon."

A pregnant, lengthy pause followed.

"I can't be a drama queen, Chicory. I'm a _tom_."

The feeble joke broke the tension.

Chicory purred roughly and pulled herself closer to him so she could clean his wound.

**Oh... this chapter was painfully short... I'm sorry, guys. I give you full right to kill me for this. =sigh=**


	20. Eighteen

**And, henceforth, I present thee... Chapter eighteen!**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't be _absurd_. =waves hand of absurdity=**

Eighteen

"_Chic_..."

The pale-striped she-cat turned. Ivy was staring at her with an odd expression on his face.

"Mmn?"

"Can I... Well..." The tortoiseshell tom was pawing the ground, looking embarrassed. "I just wanted to say, I'm still going to help you find Chrys," he blurted out.

Chicory wondered at his shyness. Usually, he was more outspoken, but... what he was saying had touched her.

"That's a very nice thing to say."

Ivy looked up hopefully, with a purr.

With a significant look at them, Pine cleared his throat. Both Ivy and Chicory jumped, and Chicory felt a touch of her old chagrin burn her. She had totally forgotten that her brother was there.

"In case you two were too busy to notice..." Pine mewed, half-amused, half-stern. "It might interest you to know that our friend and her Twoleg are heading this way." He flicked his tail direction of a cat and a young Twoleg, who were looking more than pleased to see them turn up.

"Chance!" yowled Chicory, delighted. "Chance!"

Blinking, Ivy meowed, "Chance? Chance, is that... her...?"

Chicory didn't miss that his speech had suddenly become slower, more slurred. She turned to him, brow furrowed.

"Ivy? What's wrong?"

"I... I'm fi-"

And, totally out of the blue, Ivy fainted.

Needless to say, the rest of them were stunned.

"Wh-what just happened?" Snapdragon whimpered. "What's wrong with Ivy?"

Pine groaned, as though something had just occurred to him. Everyone jumped.

"What is it?"

"He's a tortoiseshell tom, isn't he?" meowed Pine, sounding frustrated that he had forgotten. "Tortoiseshell toms are really prone to illness!"

Chicory's eyes widened. This was perfectly true - tortoiseshell toms were a lot more likely to catch life-threatening diseases. Their bodies weren't adapted to fighting them off... The dappled shape that was Ivy looked very small all of a sudden.

"Oh, foxdung, foxdung, foxdung..." Pine was muttering.

Chance sniffed around Ivy's form and found his paw, which she took in her teeth and shook gently. Ivy didn't respond. "He's really out..." she mewed, her voice laced with sympathy. The brown she-cat pushed her nose against his pad, and shook her head. "Warm," she announced. "It's not good."

While the kittypet was conducting this study, Pine had begun to stare at her in wonder. "How do you know that?" he asked.

Surprised, Chance turned to him. "The cat that belonged to the Twolegs next door taught me," she replied. "His Twolegs were vets. They heal animals," she added, seeing their blank looks.

"This cat... could he teach us?" asked Pine carefully.

Chance dropped her eyes to her paws. "Oh, um... Paddy's not with us anymore."

Pine bit his lip. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

The cats lapsed into silence. Chicory couldn't bear it. Every heartbeat they waited, Ivy might be growing closer and closer to death...

_What can we do, what can we do?_

When Chicory was on the verge of checking that poor Ivy was still alive - she was half-afraid to, in case he wasn't - Chance's dark-eyed Twoleg bent down and picked Ivy up with gentle paws, cradling him in her forelegs.

Chicory started as the Twoleg began to stride away, still carrying Ivy. "What's she doing?" she cried, panicked.

But Chance's expression was happier. "She must be taking him to Paddy's old Twolegs," she purred. "I never thought of that! They're still vets, of course."

"Do you really think so?" squeaked Chicory in disbelief, hardly daring to think that a Twoleg could be that intelligent.

"Of course," answered Chance. "Twolegs aren't _stupid_."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" piped up Snapdragon, a bundle of excitement as usual. "Let's go!" At once, he shot off after them, with Chance, Pine, and Chicory following.

It amazed Chicory how Chance's Twoleg seemed to know her exact way around Twolegplace, never even taking a wrong turning, despite its same-seeming nature. It did occur to Chicory that perhaps that Twoleg _was_ getting lost, so long seemed the walk, but her stride remained confident enough.

"I guess we never really thanked you properly for back in the animal shelter," mewed Chicory humbly to Chance ."We all owe you our lives."

Chance waved away the thanks. "Aw, you'd have done the same... It's just a good think I have a helpful Twoleg to do things like rescue trapped cats!" She purred at the vaguely not-funny pun.

"No, really," mewed Pine, earnest to join in, "We'd probably still be there if it weren't for you, Lilac."

_Lilac._

The word had clearly had the same effect on Pine - his amber eyes had widened at his mistake, and even though he was still walking, the fur across his spine and shoulders was bristling. Chicory imagined she must look much the same.

Seeming not to have noticed her companions' distress, Chance mewed good-humouredly, "Lilac? Who's that?"

As though a starry cat had taken pity on them, however, at that moment, Snapdragon hollered from in front, "I think we're nearly there! She's speeding up! Chance, are we nearly there?"

"Wait a heartbeat, let me come and see!" Chance raised her voice and dashed away from Chicory and Pine to join Snapdragon at the front.

Chicory's thoughts raced at what Pine's small error had sparked. _Lilac_. She hadn't thought about her sister in a while, and it was... a little painful, if the truth was known.

"Pine?" whispered Chicory. Her brother's eyes were like chips of stone.

"Lilac..." the brown tom murmured, in a tone Chicory obviously wasn't intended to hear.

A sigh escaped from Chicory's body - a deep, shuddering sigh that sounded like the sigh of a much older cat. "It's okay, Pine," she mewed quietly, her voice shaking the tiniest amount. "I miss her, too."

###

What seemed like not many heartbeats later, Chicory was squatting in a glossy-leaved bush, peering out of the branches and feeling like some sort of spy.

Chance had advised them to hide while her Twoleg took Ivy into the other Twolegs' nest. Grudgingly, they had all agreed, and now Chicory, Pine, and a very wriggly Snapdragon were in said bush, watching Chance and her Twoleg being accepted into the den without question.

"So unfair," grumbled Snapdragon. His ginger tail was sticking up in the air, very much visible. "They get all the fun."

"This isn't fun," snapped Chicory, who was watching Chance trot neatly at her Twoleg's heels and secretly agreeing with Snapdragon. "This is Ivy's life we're talking about."

"Can't be that ill," muttered Snapdragon under his breath, stabbing at a fat caterpillar with his forepaw.

Chicory tutted quietly and cast a reckless glance at the opening in the nest that Chance, her Twoleg, and Ivy had vanished into. It slammed shut - but not before Chicory had caught sight of someone.

Someone pink-skinned, with large, pale eyes and pudgy paws.

Someone who, at the present, looked cleaner than Chicory had ever seen her.

Chrysanthemum.


	21. Epilogue

**Hey, avid readers that aren't really that avid! Here's the last, final, ultimate chapter. =claps happily=**

**DISCLAIMER: No. No, I don't. You know what I'm on about.**

Epilogue

During all of this, Ivy had still been nagging at the back of Chicory's mind.

"Where's Ivy?" she burst out suddenly, causing everyone to stare at her in mild surprise. Only vaguely did Chicory notice that once, this would have made her exceedingly embarrassed.

Chance flicked her tail. "They took him back there and gave him a shot of something-"

"They _shot_ him?"

"No, no!" Chance assured her quickly. "They just gave him a quick injection. To help him. They always do that, and the cats always get bet-"

"Where in the name of _all the stars_ am I?" A yowl, loud, confused, and angry, rose from somewhere.

Pine squeezed his eyes shut and winced. "I _think_ he's awake," he muttered unhelpfully.

Flashing him an annoyed look, Chicory twitched her ears and pinpointed the source of the howl before setting off towards it. She could hear the medicine-Twoleg - the _vet_ - behind her. His steps were heavy, but he didn't seem at all panicked by the fact that Ivy had woken up.

"Ivy!" the pale-striped she-cat gasped, spotting the tortoiseshell lying in an ungainly heap atop a raised, bright white surface.

At once, Ivy raised his head. "Chic?" he meowed, sounding a lot happier. His mew was a little throatier than usual, but Chicory was delighted that he was alive. She bounded up onto the white surface and buried her nose in his fur.

He was purring. Chicory could tell, at once, that he was loving every moment, but for once she didn't care. Ivy was alive, and that was all that mattered.

A loud, significant cough behind them broke the moment. Chicory swiftly withdrew her nose from Ivy's pelt and stepped back a few paces, her face flooding with heat.

"Um, Chicory? Save it for when you're in private, please," mewed Pine loftily, obviously the cougher.

With a slightly wistful sigh, Ivy grumbled, "This _was_ private 'til you lot barged in."

Trying not to imagine why that sigh had come into existence, Chicory flicked Ivy's muzzle with her tail. "Stop it," she scolded, but her tone was tinted with amusement.

The medicine-Twoleg had also entered the room, which Chicory had missed. His mouth pulled up at the corners, he walked quietly - by Twoleg standards - over to Ivy and Chicory and gently lifted Ivy up.

Ivy looked confused, but Chance quickly mewed, "Don't worry - they won't hurt you." When Ivy gave her a disbelieving glance, she went on, "It's all part of your treatment. I promise."

In badly-covered alarm, Ivy gazed around at everyone in turn. His eyes rested on Chicory for a heartbeat before the Twoleg started to move. The heartbeat he was nearly out of the sector of the nest, Ivy yowled at her in what seemed to be a spontaneous manner.

"Be my mate, Chic!"

###

"Are you two going to act like a _couple_ now? Oh, yuck, yuck, yuck."

"We didn't ask you to be here, you know. You could just as easily have gone home."

"Oh - no! You know I'd never have done that!"

"I guess I shouldn't have got my hopes up."

"Aww, be nice, Ivy."

It was sundown. Ivy, Chicory, and Snapdragon were indulging in an activity that could only be called den-hunting. So far, however, they had found nothing close to Pine's new Twolegs that could have been described as 'homely'.

Pine had insisted that Chicory leave Chrysanthemum with the Twolegs, where she was. She seemed happy there, he reasoned, and they could keep an eye on her from that nest. Chicory had agreed, but she had thought it was strange that Pine had seemed so eager to share quarters with Chrys - at points, he had seemed inclined towards getting rid of the Twoleg kit. He almost seemed to be trying to make up for something... but what?

There was no use fretting about it, Chicory reasoned. All she wanted now was to enjoy her new life with Ivy, and now, apparently, Snapdragon. The ginger kit had insisted on coming to live with them, not that Ivy had been impressed.

"How are you feeling?" Chicory breathed into her new mate's ear, ruffling the downy fur there.

Ivy twitched his ears. "As long as I'm with you, my Chic, I feel the best," he purred.

Idly, Chicory realised that she wasn't feeling the regular swell of embarrassment that would have come with a comment like that.

"Oh, shut up, you stupid furball," the white she-cat mewed affectionately instead, twining her tail with Ivy's.

Snapdragon wrinkled his nose.

"_Yuck_!"


End file.
